Texas Advocacy Groups Urge Passage of the App Store Accountability Bill

AUSTIN – Today, leading Texas child advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Texas House of Representatives urging swift passage of SB 2420, a bipartisan App Store Accountability bill that puts parents back in control of their children’s digital lives and introduces long-overdue transparency and safeguards into the app store ecosystem.

The letter, signed by 17 organizations, highlights growing concerns about the lack of parental oversight and misleading age ratings in app stores – allowing children to download apps, make purchases, and agree to complex contracts without their parents’ knowledge.

“For too long, app stores have operated as digital gatekeepers with little accountability,” the letter reads. “These agreements often give apps sweeping access to kids’ personal data – photos, contact lists, exact locations, even microphones and cameras – without meaningful safeguards or their parents’ knowledge. If this were happening in any other industry, it would be unthinkable.”   SB 2420 introduces three common-sense protections for Texas families:   Parental approval before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases Accurate and transparent age ratings, with enforcement authority given to the Texas Attorney General. Secure, anonymous age verification in one place.   “Parents deserve better tools. Children deserve better safeguards. SB 2420 is a bipartisan, tech-neutral bill that’s urgently needed,” said Andrea Sparks, Founder of Not on Our Watch Texas.    App stores already verify parental consent for some purchases. Advocates argue it’s time to make that the rule – not the exception.

“Right now, app stores treat 13-year-olds as adults, allowing them to download apps with strangers, sexting features, or even hardcore pornography – all while parents are kept in the dark,” said John Read, Policy Director for the Digital Childhood Alliance. “SB 2420 empowers parents with basic tools to protect their children and restores accountability to a system that’s been broken for too long.”

SB 2420 has strong support from Texans. A poll commissioned by the Texas Public Policy Institute found that 75% of Texas voters support requiring app stores to get parental approval for teens to download apps.

“Big Tech has adopted a business strategy of addicting children to their products and services while simultaneously pulling all the stops to prevent parents from having transparency or control over what their children are accessing,” said David Dunmoyer, Director of the Better Tech for Tomorrow Campaign at TPPF. “Parents have had enough of being robbed the ability to parent in the digital age, and they recognize a need for commonsense solutions to prevent their kids from being exposed to predators, harmful content, and a vortex of addictive content.”

Momentum is growing across the country. In March, U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative John James (R-MI) introduced the App Store Accountability Act in Congress – a federal version of this legislation – with support from more than 100 national advocacy organizations who signed a letter applauding their leadership and calling for immediate action.

States like Utah have already enacted similar protections into law, with Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, and South Carolina now considering companion legislation.

With bipartisan support and national momentum, advocates are urging Texas lawmakers to lead on this issue and pass SB 2420 to better protect children and support parents across the state.   To read the full letter click here.