US state kids’ online laws: what is actually in force

As of 12 October 2026, three kinds of state law affect American children online. First, Texas’s app store law is in force: a child’s Apple or Google account opened in Texas since late May or early June 2026 must be linked to a parent, who approves each download and purchase. Second, social media account laws are enforceable in Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and most of Texas, and blocked or partly blocked in Georgia, Utah, Arkansas, Ohio, Virginia and Louisiana. Third, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, California and New York have laws that start in 2027. None of these laws places any duty or penalty on parents.

App store age laws: Texas is live, four more start in 2027

App store laws put the age check on Apple and Google, not on each app. Under the Texas model, which Utah, Louisiana and Alabama copied, the store verifies which of four age bands an account holder is in (under 13, 13–15, 16–17, 18 or over). Every minor’s account must be linked to a parent account. The parent then consents to each individual download, purchase and in-app purchase; the Texas statute forbids blanket consent. California chose a different design: one age question when a device or account is set up, then an age-band signal sent to apps, with no approval for each download.

What a Texas parent sees right now

Apple told developers that from 4 June 2026, new Apple Accounts in Texas require age assurance plus parent or guardian consent for minors’ downloads, in-app purchases and significant app changes. Apple also said parents can revoke consent for an app they approved earlier. Google says its Play Age Signals API began returning signals for eligible Texas users who created their accounts after 28 May 2026. Neither notice says how accounts created before those dates are handled. If your child’s account is older, do not assume the approval screen will appear for it.

The consent screen is more useful than it looks. Before you approve, the store must show the app’s age rating, the content behind that rating, and whether the app or purchase involves collecting, using or sharing personal data. Read that screen instead of tapping through it. Approving each download in turn is no substitute for an app limit or content restriction, so keep using Screen Time and Family Sharing or Family Link as well.

Social media account laws, state by state

These laws regulate the platforms directly, through age checks, parental consent, feed rules or time limits. Almost all of them have been challenged by NetChoice or CCIA, two technology industry trade groups. The column on the right gives the latest court action we could find.

“Undecided” means we found no appeals court decision in the docket entries available to us on 12 October 2026. Appeals courts can rule on any day, so if your state is one of these, check before relying on the table.

Design codes: rules about defaults, not about accounts

A third group of laws, usually called “age-appropriate design codes”, sets no age minimum. Instead they require the most protective settings by default for users the platform knows or should know are children.

• Maryland Kids Code: in force since 1 Oct 2024. A NetChoice lawsuit is in discovery, and no injunction has been entered.
• Nebraska LB 504: operative since 1 Jan 2026, with Attorney General penalties available from 1 July 2026. One default is no notifications from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., or from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school-year weekdays.
• Vermont Act 63: starts 1 Jan 2027. By default, known adults cannot see, message or comment on a minor unless the minor allows it, and there are no push notifications between midnight and 6 a.m.
• California AB 2273: mostly unblocked since April 2026, after the Ninth Circuit narrowed the injunction to the data-use and dark-pattern rules.
• South Carolina HB 3431 (2026): challenged by NetChoice. A request for an injunction was pending at the last docket entry we could see.

Separately, in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (June 2025) the Supreme Court upheld Texas’s requirement that pornography sites verify users are 18 or older. That decision is why so many states’ adult-site age checks are now in force while the social media laws are still being argued.

Rights parents can use today

Most coverage of these laws describes what platforms must do. Several also give parents something they can ask for, or a claim they can bring.

• Texas, social media: if your child’s account is registered as under 18, the SCOPE Act requires covered platforms to give a verified parent tools to control the child’s privacy and account settings and to monitor and limit time spent. Each platform must also publish a way for you to request that it let you review and download, and delete, the personal data it holds about your child (§ 509.103). Parents may sue for a court declaration or an injunction, but not for money, and not as a class action.
• Florida: a parent or guardian can ask a covered platform to terminate an under-14’s account, and the termination must take effect within 10 business days. A minor account holder can sue for up to $10,000 for knowing or reckless violations.
• Arkansas: the private right of action for parents in Act 901 was left in place because the Attorney General does not enforce it, so a court order against him could not block it.
• Utah, from 6 May 2027: a minor or parent harmed by an app store or developer violation may sue for the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation.

These rights attach only when the platform knows your child is a minor. In Texas, for example, the SCOPE Act protections apply to an account registered as under 18. An account opened with an adult birth date gets none of them.

What none of these laws do

• They place no duty, fine or offence on parents or children. Every obligation falls on platforms and app stores.
• They protect only the age a service believes your child is. A false birth date, or an adult’s account handed over, sits outside all of them.
• Several exclude messaging. Florida’s law, for example, does not cover services that are only email or direct messaging, which is where much stranger contact happens.
• They do not replace device-level controls. The settings in our iPhone and iPad and Android guides work in every state, whatever happens in court.

What to do this month

1. Check the birth date on each of your child’s accounts: Apple or Google, and every social app. Every law on this page relies on the age the service believes.
2. Find your state in the tables above and note whether its law is in force, blocked, or blocked only for some companies.
3. If you are in Texas and your child’s store account was created after the June 2026 change, read the age rating and data disclosure on each consent screen before you approve.
4. If you are in Texas, look in each social app’s settings or help pages for the parent request form the SCOPE Act requires, and use it to see or delete what the app holds about your child.
5. Set the device controls anyway: Screen Time with Ask to Buy, or Family Link with purchase approval. They apply whatever the courts decide.
6. Diary the 2027 start dates that affect you: California and Alabama on 1 January, New York on 25 January, Utah on 6 May, Louisiana on 1 July.

How we checked, and what we could not

Each status above was checked between 10 and 12 October 2026. We read the enacted bill text on the state legislature sites, the court orders and opinions themselves (from the courts’ websites and CourtListener), the Supreme Court’s docket, the New York Attorney General’s announcement, and Apple’s and Google’s developer notices. Court dockets mirrored on CourtListener can lag the official record by days or weeks.

Some things we could not verify, so they are not summarised above. California enacted further laws on 10 September 2026, including AB 1709, which amends SB 976, and AB 1856, which amends AB 1043. The official California legislature site blocked our access, so we have not read their final text. We also could not confirm how Apple and Google treat Texas accounts created before mid-2026. We will update this page when we can read the primary sources.

For how platforms check age in practice, see why every app suddenly wants to check your kid’s age. For federal law, see our KOSA and COPPA explainer. Families outside the US should read the regional differences guide.

General information, not legal advice. Laws and court orders change; verify against the official sources below before relying on any detail.