In a major blow to Silicon Valley, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an emergency application by Big Tech trade associations to block enforcement of the Texas App Store Accountability Act.
The case was Computer & Communications Industry Association v. Ken Paxton.
The Texas law requires parental consent before a child can download an app.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation or NCOSE, submitted amicus briefs in December 2025 and May 2026 detailing how predatory app marketplace designs leave children highly vulnerable to grooming and commercial sexual exploitation.
The Supremes let stand a 5th Circuit decision that forcefully rejected the industry’s demands for total immunity, focusing on the state’s urgent interest in protecting children from predatory online ecosystems.
The decision establishes a framework for state-led digital safety standards nationwide.
Benjamin Bull is General Counsel for National Center on Sexual Exploitation said this is a big deal.
"Any app that purports to be downloaded has to confirm, has to verify that the person doing the downloading is 18 or over. Otherwise, they have to get parental consent. So, it's age verification plus parental consent. Texas is the first state that's passed such a law. So many of these apps are labeled suitable for 10-year-olds when in fact it's suitable for maybe 17-year-olds."
Bull said Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah are among other states working on similar legislation like Texas.
"All of us now know about the problems with sexual exploitation, the problems with children being hypnotized and going brain dead, spending countless hours on the Internet, not having any real friends and having their own version of reality being the little pixels on a screen. And now for the first time, a parent has to sign off on the downloading of an app."
