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State Children's Privacy Law Tracker / Texas

Texas Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

3 laws & bills tracked · overall: In force · current as of June 28, 2026

Texas has 3 tracked children's privacy laws and bills — each listed below with its status, the ages it covers, litigation posture, and a link to the official primary source. For the interactive view, open Texas in the tracker map.

App Store Accountability Act · SB 2420

In force — Effective and enforceable today. · App store · effective 2026-06-04 · binds app stores, developers

Ages: Under 18 (parental consent required for minors; age categories: child, younger teen, older teen, adult)

Requires: App stores must verify the age of every account holder at account creation; minors' accounts must be linked to a parent/guardian account; parental consent is required before a minor may download or purchase an app or make in-app purchases; app stores must share age-bracket and parental-consent signals with developers, who must apply them.

Litigation: CCIA v. Paxton / SEAT v. Paxton (W.D. Tex., No. 1:25-cv-1413 and related). Dec 23, 2025: PI granted enjoining the Act on First Amendment grounds. June 4, 2026: Fifth Circuit stayed the PI pending appeal, finding Texas likely to succeed (law likely regulates commercial speech). June 10-15, 2026: challengers filed SCOTUS emergency applications (25A1389, 25A1390) to vacate the stay; Texas responded June 22, 2026. No SCOTUS ruling as of 2026-06-27. Stay currently in effect, so law is enforceable.

Primary source

Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act · HB 18

In force — Effective and enforceable today. · Social media · effective 2024-09-01 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: Under 18 (known minors)

Requires: Digital service providers must register whether a user is a minor; obtain verifiable parental consent before creating a known minor's account; provide parental control/oversight tools; limit collection/use/sale/sharing of a minor's personal data; provide default privacy protections; and prevent minors from agreeing to terms without parental approval. (Content monitoring/filtering, certain targeted-ad limits, and one age-verification provision are currently enjoined.)

Litigation: CCIA & NetChoice v. Paxton (W.D. Tex.). Aug 30, 2024: monitoring-and-filtering provisions preliminarily enjoined. Feb 7, 2025: injunction expanded to targeted-advertising provisions and an age-verification provision (vagueness / First Amendment). Texas appealed to the Fifth Circuit; appeal pending as of 2026-06-27. Remaining provisions (parental consent, data privacy/minimization, parental controls) are in force and enforceable.

Primary source

Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) — minors' provisions · HB 4 (88th Leg., R.S.)

In force — Effective and enforceable today. · Privacy law (minors) · effective 2024-07-01 · binds operators

Ages: Children under 13 (a 'known child'); no separate heightened opt-in tier for teens 13-17

Requires: Personal data collected from a known child is classified as 'sensitive data' (Sec. 541.001(29)(C)), and a controller must process a known child's sensitive data in accordance with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rather than via ordinary consent (Sec. 541.101(b)(4)). Texas does not impose a minor-specific opt-in for selling/sharing or targeted advertising to teens — those remain general consumer opt-out rights — so the only heightened minor-specific duty is COPPA-compliant handling of under-13 data.

Primary source

Also on the books (out of scope): Texas HB 1181 — age-verification law for sexual material 'harmful to minors.' Re — out-of-scope mandates (like adult-content age-gates) are tracked separately and don't set this state's status.

Federal · COPPAapplies here too

Regardless of state law, COPPA governs personal information collected from children under 13: notice, verifiable parental consent, data minimization, and — under the 2025 amended Rule — limits on retention and third-party sharing.

Source

How Texas compares

Not legal advice. I build products for a living; I'm not a lawyer. Compiled from primary sources and reviewed monthly as part of the State Children's Privacy Law Tracker; AI-assisted research, verified against each law's official source — but laws and injunctions change fast, so confirm the latest before relying on it. Related: COPPA's Gray Areas.