US judge blocks Texas app store age law meant to protect children

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday blocked Texas from enforcing a new state law aimed at protecting children by requiring app stores and developers to verify the age of users, in a win for Apple AAPL.O , Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google and other technology companies.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin issued a preliminary injunction against the state’s App Store Accountability Act, finding the measure likely violates the U.S. Constitution's speech protections under the First Amendment.

The law, which was set to take effect in January, would require parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users aged below 18. Pitman’s ruling was a win for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which sued to stop the law.

The order was a setback to Texas and its efforts to regulate smartphone use by children and teenagers, part of a broader crackdown by some U.S. states to combat potentially harmful effects of social media on young people. Australia this month became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.

The Texas attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pitman acknowledged concerns about children’s online safety but said “however compelling the policy concerns, and however widespread the agreement that the issue must be addressed, the court remains bound by the rule of law.”

The Washington, D.C.-based Computer & Communications Industry Association welcomed the order.

The order will "preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents, and younger internet users,” said Stephanie Joyce, who heads the group’s litigation center. “It also protects parents’ inviolate right to use their own judgment in safeguarding their children online using the myriad tools our members provide.”

Google and Apple, which were not plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association said the law would have placed “burdens on app stores, developers, minors, and parents that are completely disproportionate to any harm policymakers were attempting to remedy.”

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

((Email: mike.scarcella@thomsonreuters.com; Phone: 202-985-8228.))