Texas
Texas has the most consequential adult content age verification law in the country: HB 1181 (2023), upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton on June 27, 2025 under intermediate scrutiny. The core provisions of its 2023 SCOPE Act, which covers social media and other digital services used by minors, remain enjoined statewide pending consolidated Fifth Circuit appeals. Its 2025 App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420) is currently enforceable after the Fifth Circuit stayed a district court injunction and the Supreme Court declined to disturb that stay in July 2026, though the merits appeal is still pending. Texas has not enacted a standalone design code law.
Subnational jurisdiction. Reviewed 2026-07-16.
HB 1181 (2023), age verification for material harmful to minors
Requires a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material on a website, including a social media platform, more than one third of which is sexual material harmful to minors, to use reasonable age verification methods for Texas visitors and to protect any identifying information it collects.
- Citation
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B
- Status
- In force
- Effective date
- 2023-09-01
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- gov id, digital id, transactional data
- Covered services
- Commercial websites, including social media platforms, more than one third of which is sexual material harmful to minors.
- Penalties
- Civil penalty up to $10,000 per day of noncompliance or improper retention of identifying information, plus up to $250,000 if a minor accesses the material as a result of a violation.
- Enforcement body
- Texas Attorney General
- Private right of action
- no
- Litigation
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-1122, Supreme Court of the United States, The Fifth Circuit had upheld the law applying rational basis review. The Supreme Court affirmed on different reasoning, holding 6 to 3 on June 27, 2025 that intermediate scrutiny, not strict scrutiny, governs age verification laws of this kind, and that HB 1181 survives that standard. Justice Thomas wrote for the majority, Justice Kagan dissented.
- Source
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B
SB 2420 (2025), App Store Accountability Act
Requires app store providers to verify a user's age category, link a minor's account to a parent account, and obtain parental consent before a minor can download an app or make an in app purchase, and to share age and consent information with app developers. Violations are deceptive trade practices under Texas consumer protection law.
- Citation
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 121 (Subtitle C, Title 5)
- Status
- In force
- Effective date
- 2026-01-01
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- device signal, parental consent
- Covered services
- App marketplaces such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and the app developers that distribute through them.
- Enforcement body
- Texas Attorney General, and enforceable as a deceptive trade practice under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
- Private right of action
- yes
- Litigation
- Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton, No. 1:25-cv-01662 (W.D. Tex.), and Computer & Communications Industry Association v. Paxton (W.D. Tex.); Supreme Court emergency applications Nos. 25A1389 and 25A1390, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas; Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals; Supreme Court of the United States, The district court granted preliminary injunctions on December 23, 2025. The Fifth Circuit stayed the injunctions in late May 2026, granting a full stay pending appeal in early June 2026, and the Supreme Court denied the challengers' emergency applications to vacate the stay on July 6, 2026 in unsigned orders with no noted dissents. The law is enforceable while the Fifth Circuit's merits appeal proceeds; the consolidated appeals (Nos. 25-51073 and 26-50001) are calendared for oral argument on August 4, 2026 in New Orleans.
- Source
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 121 (Subtitle C, Title 5)
HB 18 (2023), Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act
Requires digital service providers to determine whether a Texas account holder is a known minor based on self reported age at registration, obtain parental consent for certain data uses, and restrict targeted advertising, data sharing, and specified design features for known minors. Federal courts have enjoined the law's core provisions statewide, including its monitoring and filtering, targeted advertising, and age verification requirements, while Texas appeals.
- Citation
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 509
- Status
- Enjoined
- Effective date
- 2024-09-01
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- self declaration, parental consent
- Covered services
- Digital service providers whose services are used, or reasonably anticipated to be used, by a known minor in Texas.
- Enforcement body
- Texas Attorney General
- Private right of action
- no
- Litigation
- Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice v. Paxton, No. 1:24-cv-00849 (W.D. Tex.), and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton (W.D. Tex.); consolidated appeals Nos. 24-50721 and 25-50096 (5th Cir.), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, on appeal to the Fifth Circuit, The district court preliminarily enjoined the monitoring and filtering provisions on August 30, 2024 in the CCIA and NetChoice case, and on February 7, 2025 enjoined additional provisions, including targeted advertising restrictions and the age verification and content monitoring requirement, in the companion Students Engaged in Advancing Texas case, holding them facially invalid under strict scrutiny. Texas's consolidated appeals were briefed in 2025 and remain pending before the Fifth Circuit as of this date.
- Source
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 509
Reviewed 2026-07-16. Confidence: high. Fast-moving area, verify before relying. Not legal advice.