Texas Tries to Put Parents Back in Charge
In Texas, lawmakers are trying to do something radical by modern tech standards: ask parents before a child makes a digital purchase. Senate Bill 2420, called the Texas App Store Accountability Act, would require app stores to get parental consent before a minor downloads an app or buys something inside it. That is not government censorship. It is the old-fashioned idea that a parent should know what is happening on a child’s phone before a credit card bill, a data grab, or a late-night rabbit hole shows up to do the explaining. The law does not ban apps or tell families what to allow. It just puts the adults back in the room, which is apparently a bold move in Silicon Valley.
Big Tech Says Permission Is the Problem
An Apple and Google-backed trade group has sued to block the law, saying it violates the First Amendment. That claim is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a simple rule that says a company should ask a parent before selling to a child. Courts have long treated minors differently in commercial deals, because children do not need to be signed up for binding contracts, data collection, and surprise spending sprees with the same freedom adults have. App stores are not just libraries of harmless speech. They are marketplaces, and the law has never been shy about protecting minors in the marketplace. The industry’s outrage sounds less like a civil liberties crusade and more like a complaint that customer consent is slowing down the checkout line.
The Phone Is Not Neutral
Supporters of the Texas law argue that the big platforms are not neutral pipes carrying content from point A to point B. They are carefully engineered to keep users engaged, especially young users who are easier to pull into endless scrolling, notifications, and in-app spending. That is not a conspiracy theory. It is the business model, wrapped in enough glossy public relations to make a toll booth look like a community service. The U.S. surgeon general has warned that social media poses a serious risk to youth mental health, and rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among teens have climbed alongside smartphone use. That does not prove every screen is evil. It does suggest that parents deserve more control than a tech platform that profits from keeping children glued to it.
A Familiar Fight Over Parental Rights
The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that parents, not the state, have the primary role in raising children. Cases from Meyer v. Nebraska to Pierce v. Society of Sisters to Troxel v. Granville all rest on the same basic point: the child is not the mere creature of the state. Texas supporters say SB 2420 fits that tradition because it does not impose a government-approved list of apps or content. It simply requires parental consent before a minor enters the app marketplace. Critics complain that age checks are inconvenient, as if identity verification is some exotic new burden and not something Americans already do to open bank accounts, board airplanes, or buy cold medicine. App stores already collect plenty of data. What they lack is not the ability to ask parents. It is the appetite to do it.
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