Judge blocks Texas app store age verification law
TL;DR
A federal judge blocked a Texas law requiring app stores to verify user ages, comparing it to requiring bookstores to check IDs. The preliminary injunction suggests the law's defenders are unlikely to prevail.
A federal judge blocked a Texas law requiring mobile app stores to verify users' ages from taking effect on January 1st.
In an order granting a preliminary injunction on the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the statute "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 has not yet ruled on the merits of the case, but his decision to grant the preliminary injunction means he believes its defenders are unlikely to prevai …