U.S. court refuses to block app store age verification law

The justices denied requests by the challengers to lift a lower court’s decision that had allowed the law to take effect

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to block a Texas law requiring app stores and developers to verify the age ​of mobile device users, and for minors to obtain parental consent, to download apps or make purchases, acting ‌in a challenge on free speech grounds by a technology industry group and students.

The justices denied requests by the challengers to lift a lower court’s decision that had allowed the law to take effect while litigation continues over whether it violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects against government abridgement of free ​speech.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a group whose members include prominent app store operators such as Apple and Google, and ​a coalition of students called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, as well as two individual students, sued ⁠to stop the Texas law.

The case brought to the nation’s highest judicial body another free speech battle over efforts by the state ​of Texas to protect children from online content.

U.S. Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas granted injunctions halting the law last December, finding that it likely violates the First Amendment.

The act ​is akin to a law that ​would require every bookstore to ⁠verify the age of every customer at the door and, for minors, require parental consent before the child or teen could enter and again when they try to purchase a book, Pitman said in ​his ruling.

On June 4, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put Pitman’s ruling on ​hold.

Texas has a ⁠substantial, if not compelling, interest in protecting children, and parents need to have the necessary information to make informed choices affecting their children’s upbringing, the 5th Circuit wrote.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, in urging the Supreme Court to lift the 5th Circuit’s decision, said the state law illegally ⁠forces app ​stores to police access by users to vast amounts of online speech.

No state ​has ever required its citizens to prove their age before reading a newspaper, entering a bookstore, or even accessing the internet, the group said in a court filing.