Apple CEO Tim Cook has lobbied Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to fight legislation that would require the company to verify ages of device users.
Cook called Abbott last week to ask the governor to push for changes to the legislation or for a veto, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the call. The people said the conversation was cordial and it made clear the extent of Apple’s interest in stopping the bill.
Last week, lawmakers sent SB 2420 to Abbott's desk, establishing age-verification requirements and mandating parental consent before a minor is allowed to download or make purchases within software applications. Abbott has yet to say whether he will sign it, the Journal reported, but the bipartisan measure passed both chambers earlier this month by veto-proof margins.
Lawmakers are also considering a House bill that would require social media platforms to have a warning label about the association between a minor’s social media usage and significant mental health issues.
In the weeks leading up to the passage of SB 2420, Apple hired more lobbyists to pressure lawmakers, the Journal reported. An interest group it funds targeted the Austin area with advertisements claiming the legislation is “backed by porn websites.” Google also finances the interest group and is fighting the legislation. The law’s supporters said adult-content sellers don’t favor it.
Texas would become the largest state to adopt an app-store accountability law. Similar laws have been proposed across at least nine states and adopted in one, Utah. Federal legislation also has been introduced.
The Texas bill is gaining attention because its success could foreshadow the adoption of similar bills across the country, potentially creating new costs for Apple and Google, and some app makers.
An Apple spokesman told the Journal the company wants to strengthen online safety for children but that the Texas bill threatens user privacy.
“If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores,” the spokesman said.
Meta has said that verifying ages at the app store-level is easier and helps preserve privacy, by only having children’s ages stored in one place instead of on every app they access.
An Abbott spokesman told the Journal that “safety and online privacy for Texas children remains a priority for Abbott. The governor will thoughtfully review this legislation, as he does with any legislation sent to his desk.”
The age-verification bills are the latest threat to Apple’s lucrative apps business. Last month, a judge forced the company to allow app developers to avoid Apple’s steep commissions on app-store sales, a move the European Union is also advocating, the Journal reported.
Apple lobbyists successfully blocked a similar effort in Louisiana last spring, but that bill has returned this year and is advancing. Some states are moving ahead with app-store bills anyway.
“The more we can help parents understand what their children are really interacting with and give them tools to help them make good parenting decisions, then I think we’re all better off,” Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, who sponsored SB 2420, told the Journal.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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