Apple must continue to perform age verification of iPhone users in Texas after the Supreme Court denied a request to suspend enforcement of the law.
The iPhone maker strongly opposed the law, with Tim Cook going as far as to personally lobby The state’s governor, Greg Abbott…
The story so far
Texas requires app stores to ensure age verification for all users and obtain parental consent for minors before they can download, purchase or even continue using existing apps. The law went into effect earlier this year and imposed requirements on both app store owners like Apple and Google and developers.
Any user in Texas who creates a new Apple account will need to confirm whether they are 18 or older. In some cases, Apple will be able to do this. automatic verification.
Additionally, developers must determine the age range of application users to ensure compliance. Apple provides tools to help them do it.
The Supreme Court rejects a pause in the execution
A trade body whose members include both Apple and Google had asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay enforcement of the law while it tried to have the law declared unconstitutional.
This was rejected and the Communications and Consumer Industry Association took the matter to the US Supreme Court. CNET reports that the court has denied the request in a one-sentence ruling.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Texas can, for now, continue to enforce its age verification law, which requires app stores to verify the ages of minors and obtain parental consent before downloading apps or making in-app purchases.
The sentence says, in its entirety:
The request for annulment of the suspension presented to Minister Alito and by him forwarded to the Court is rejected.
9to5Mac’s opinion
The battle is unlikely to end here, as Apple and others are still seeking to overturn the law. However, it’s clear which way the wind is blowing in this case in jurisdictions around the world, and we’ve argued before that Apple would be better off accepting the inevitable from time to time. turn it into a public relations victory rather than a subsequent legal defeat.
9to5Mac Readers overwhelmingly agreed that they would trust Apple to carry out age and identity verification for individual app developers and websites that do so. While there will inevitably be comments that “neither” is the preferred option, it is very clear that this will not be an option.
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