MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — A federal judge blocked Texas state law that would require age verification for app downloads, citing First Amendment violations.
- Texas Senate Bill 2420 outlines age verification and parental consent for app downloads, ruling it violates the First Amendment
- The App Store Accountability Act was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in May 2025 and was set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026 before being blocked in December 2025
- Local Waco parents have mixed reactions - some support more parental controls while others agree with the court's decision but want better built-in safety features
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the federal court's ruling that called parts of the law "unconstitutionally vague"
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A new Texas law designed to protect children online by requiring age verification and parental consent for app downloads has been blocked by a federal judge just before it was set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
The law, known as Senate Bill 2420 or the App Store Accountability Act, would have required age verification, parental consent for downloads, and age ratings for apps. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill in May 2025, but a federal judge blocked the bill in December, ruling that parts of the legislation are "unconstitutionally vague" and violate the First Amendment.
The court order states that the law, "restricts access to a vast universe of speech by requiring Texans to prove their age before downloading a mobile app."
Local parents in Waco have mixed reactions to the ruling. Some support the law's intent to give parents more control over their children's internet use.
"There's a lot of dangers out there, and I do not want them having access to that freely," Local mother of two, Natalya Pool said.
Another parent, Katherine Castanon agreed, saying, "I think we need to have more control over the internet but as parents we need to have that control."
"Until they are of age, it my job to watch what they are doing on the internet," Pool said.
Castonon supports the block while still advocating for parental controls.
"I do agree with the block, I also agree that we definitely need parental controls, and as parents, we need to use the title parental control," Castanon said.
Pool explains that several of her children's apps have settings for in-app purchases to make them kid-friendly and believes that feature should be more widely available.
"I feel like those apps should be more accessible and less costly, we shouldn't have to pay for all these apps and that way we can watch what our kids are playing on seeing and talking to," Pool said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the court's order.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
