The US Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a legal challenge to the Texas App Store Accountability Act, allowing the state to enforce its new age-verification rules while litigation continues. The decision matters because it clears the way for a law that requires app stores to verify users' ages and impose restrictions on under-18s — a model that could influence how other states regulate online platforms and children's access to apps.

A federal district judge, Robert Pitman, had blocked the law in December 2025, finding it likely breached the First Amendment, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that injunction in June, ruling that Texas was likely to succeed on the merits. A tech industry lobby group, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), and a student group asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the block, but the court refused in two brief orders. The CCIA calls the law "a broad censorship regime," while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argues the state has a duty to protect children. The 5th Circuit has scheduled oral arguments for 4 August, and the Supreme Court previously upheld a similar Texas age-verification law for pornography sites in June 2025.