A new poll by the Texas Public Policy Foundation shows that a majority of parents and voters surveyed support legislation that would require parental approval before children can download applications from the app store.
TPPF policy analyst Greyson Gee said that the poll results confirmed the organization’s research, which shows that “parents seek meaningful tools to protect their children in the digital world,” and that they “shouldn’t have to be cybersecurity experts to keep their children safe online.”
According to the TPPF poll, 79 percent of Texas parents support such a measure, and “61% of Texas parents would be more likely to vote for legislators who support these requirements.”
Additionally, the poll also revealed that 88 percent of Texas Republican voters would favor such legislation, and “75% of all Texas voters support requiring app stores to get parental approval for teens to download apps.”
TPPF’s Better Tech for Tomorrow Campaign Director, David Dunmoyer, called out Big Tech, who he says, “adopted a business strategy of addicting children to their products and services while simultaneously pulling all the stops to prevent parents from having transparency or control over what their children are accessing.”
The poll comes on the heels of the Texas Legislature considering the App Store Accountability Act (Senate Bill 2420 and House Bill 4901), introduced by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) and State Rep. Caroline Fairly (R-Amarillo).
“This is my bill to protect our children from inappropriate content on their devices by requiring the app stores to verify that what minors can access is age appropriate,” said Paxton in a post on X.
On Monday, Paxton’s SB 2420 passed out of the Senate State Affairs Committee and awaits further action by the Senate. Fairly’s HB 4901 has been referred to the House Trade, Workforce & Economic Development committee.
Concern about the influence Big Tech companies have over children continues to gain urgency with lawmakers. As Texas Scorecard previously reported in December 2024, officials investigated several top companies to analyze their privacy practices and handling of children’s data.
