HB 4901: Don’t Saddle Texans with a Digital Bouncer at the App Store Door
A Better Path so Texas Can Avoid The Legal Quagmire Waiting to Happen
What the Bill Would Do
Texas is currently considering an app store age verification bill with a hearing scheduled for April 15. House Bill 4901 would require every app store that serves Texans to (1) verify the age of every single account‑holder, (2) sort users into four rigid age brackets, and (3) get one‑off parental permission before any minor can download or buy an app or make an in‑app purchase. Non‑compliance opens the door to private lawsuits, punitive damages, and deceptive‑trade‑practice penalties.
On paper that sounds like a quick fix for parents’ digital headaches. In reality it is a privacy‑invasive, innovation‑stifling, and constitutionally shaky mandate that would leave Texas worse off.
The main points in the bill cover topics on which I’ve written and testified before. For some commentary on the topic, I’ve compiled my thoughts in quick hits below. If Texas passes this law, that means 31 million Americans would be forced to comply with government mandates before accessing their mobile apps. That’s a big deal, so getting the policy correct in Texas is important.
Here are the main problems with HB 4901 and most other app store age verification mandates:
1. Parental Consent Is Way More Complicated Than It Sounds
The concept of legally requiring “Mom or Dad should sign off” seems simple in concept but reality says otherwise:
Verifying parental relationships accurately and at scale is very difficult. Current methods (credit‑card charges, faxed forms, live video calls, ID scans) are clunky, intrusive, and ill‑suited to verification at scale–we are talking millions of accounts in Texas. Even more so for foster families, grandparents, or households where the child’s last name differs from the guardian’s.
Vulnerable teens would be hit the hardest. For minors in abusive homes or caught outside the system, mandatory parental approval can cut off lifelines to peer support and crisis resources. Courts have long warned that blanket consent rules “deprive young people of their First Amendment rights.”
Parents already have these tools. Apple’s Ask to Buy, Google Family Link, and Meta’s own approval flows let caregivers gate downloads today—no new statute required.
Bottom line: HB 4901 asks app stores to solve an identity‑management puzzle no state or tech firm has cracked and punishes Texans when it inevitably breaks.
2. Government Permission to Use Apps
With this law in place, Texans of all ages won’t be able to use their apps without providing paperwork:
One gate can’t guard every door. HB 4901 covers app‑store downloads, but teens can still reach the very same services through a mobile or desktop browser.
Everyone must show ID, not just kids. To know which accounts need consent, the app store must know the age of every user. Two‑thirds of Americans are uncomfortable handing over ID for routine online use, according to a late 2023 Center for Growth and Opportunity poll.
Millions simply don’t have the paperwork. Roughly 29 million U.S. adults—about 1 in 10—lack government‑issued photo ID, with young people and people of color most affected. Requiring ID‑based consent would lock many Texans out of the digital app economy altogether.
3. It’s a Legal Quagmire Waiting to Happen
Courts have spent three decades striking down broad age‑verification laws that chill lawful speech and burden adults as much as minors. App store age verification requirements will likely face similar challenges. Just last week a federal judge permanently blocked Arkansas’s Social Media Safety Act, calling it “an unconstitutional restraint on protected speech.” HB 4901 bears similar provisions to those the courts rejected—so Texans would pay to defend a law the state is likely to lose.
A Better Path for Texas
Protecting children online is incredibly important but HB 4901 or app store age verification isn’t the way to do it. Such an approach might provide more of a mirage of safety for teens than actual safety. Instead of mandating app stores verify all their users, I’ve outlined some ideas below. More ideas to keep teens safe online are here. Lawmakers in Texas should instead:
Enforce existing criminal statutes against child exploitation and give law‑enforcement the resources to pursue real predators.
Help parents leverage the tools they already have in iOS, Android, and popular platforms. Competition and innovation is happening and better tools emerge all the time. CEI has a great list.
Invest in parent‑centric education and digital‑literacy initiatives that help families navigate risks. Organizations like the Family Online Safety Institute do this well.
Commission an independent economic‑impact study before imposing costly new compliance burdens on the state’s vibrant app economy.
The approach in this bill will gate-keep access to mobile apps, gamble with Texans’ privacy, and invite a costly constitutional showdown, while offering little more than a digital mirage of safety.
Texas can instead lead with solutions that keep kids safe and respect innovation, privacy, and free speech.