WSJ: Tim Cook calls Texas governor over App Store age verification bill

Tim Cook is personally involved in an attempt to stop a Texas child safety bill targeting the App Store from becoming law, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Per the report, Tim Cook personally called Texas Governor Greg Abbott last week asking him to either amend or veto the bill that, if it becomes law, will require Apple and Google to collect age data for every user who wants to download an app.

According to the bill, if that user is a minor, the App Store (alongside Google’s Play Store) would be on the hook for notifying a parent, and getting approval before a download goes through. In essence, this could mean sweeping changes not just to how the App Store works, but also for every developer building on top of it.

The legislation, which passed recently with veto-proof majorities, would make Texas the biggest state yet to pass what’s being called an “app-store accountability” law.

If Texas moves ahead, others will probably follow. Utah already passed a version of it, while Louisiana has repeatedly pushed similar attempts. On top of it all, federal legislation is in the works, too.

Apple’s argument? You guessed it. Privacy.

As an Apple spokesperson told the WSJ:

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.

Apple has been arguing that age verification should happen at the app level, where age-sensitive content actually exists, and not at the marketplace level.

Still, earlier this year, Apple announced new tools aimed at balancing age assurance with user privacy. Rather than collecting birthdates or government IDs at the App Store level, the company is rolling out features like streamlined Child Account setup, an API that lets parents share only their child’s age range with developers, and stricter content controls tied to Screen Time.

Behind the scenes, the WSJ reports that Apple has been ramping up its lobbying game in the state. It now has six registered lobbyists working in Texas, compared to Google’s seven and Meta’s 13.

The company, alongside Google, has also backed a series of Austin-area ads warning the bill was “backed by porn websites”.

This is not the first time Tim Cook has picked up the phone over government-related issues, but it’s rare to see him jump into a state-level fight like this one. However, at a time when momentum for age-verification laws only seems to be growing and Apple’s luck seems to have seen better days, this is bound to become a more frequent move.