In late May, Governor of Texas Greg Abbott signed the “App Store Accountability Act”, which already passed through the House & Senate and will become effective on January 2026.

This act requires app stores to verify the ages of their users using “reasonable methods”. Kids under 18 must have an associated parental account who will have to approve any app downloads.

Texas is the first to pass an age verification law for app stores, but there’s many states with their own social media age verification laws, including Montana, Mississipi, North Carolina, Lousiana, Utah, and Virginia. At least 9 states so far have introduced legislation for app stores.

Its funny how these states all get the memo at around the same time, almost like its part of a greater agenda.

The “reasonable methods” for age verification include integration with Digital IDs, uploading government issued IDs, or verifying private records like your mortgage or employment records.

Some social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook also require you to upload an ID and submit a video for facial age assessment.

None of these methods are reasonable because it opens up everyone - not just the kids to surveillance, and digital IDs.

Addiction to pornography and adult content is a serious issue for the younger generation, and realistically - this does nothing to stop it. It only enrolls this new generation into a digital ID scheme so that their entire life would be tracked.

At this time it looks like the Texas bill excludes app stores run by non-profits and those that don’t require an account. So if you’re an individual living in an age verification state - you can simply download the app directly from the developer - or find it on F-Droid or Aurora store.

If we really want to help kids with their attachment to technology, we need to use some common sense. One - don’t give a baby a phone or tablet, nor a teenager. Two, ensure that our kids are finding fulfillment in the real world with community.

More regulation isn’t how we get there.

Solutions:

• If you’re in one of these states by 2026, you may be able to use alternative app catalogs, associated with non-profits. Some of these currently include F-Droid, and Aurora Store - however these aren’t available on iPhone
• You may also be able to download apps directly from the developers
• You may benefit from a phone where these alternative app stores are the default and there’s no need to login to a centralized account

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