Why America’s biggest companies gave up the fight against Utah’s app store law protecting kids

One of the largest technology groups in the country backed off from challenging Utah’s age verification requirement for app stores last week.

The Computer & Communication Industry Association withdrew its complaint after confirming the law could not be enforced by government prosecution.

But that was never the main intent of Utah’s first-in-the-nation policy.

The groundbreaking law, which was passed in 2025 and updated in 2026, relies on the threat of private lawsuits to shift corporate behaviors regarding children.

“They’re terrified of the private right of action,” bill sponsor Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told the Deseret News. “Good fences make good neighbors. I think good potential for liability makes good corporate neighbors.”

Utah’s law orders app stores to verify users’ ages and to request a parent’s consent before a minor can download an app, agree to terms of service or make an in-app purchase.

Parents must be informed of whether the app has an age rating and how it will use their child’s information. Parents of harmed minors may sue app stores for violations.

The principle that minors are unable enter into contracts is respected in most commercial settings, according to Weiler. Starting May 6, 2027, that will also apply to app stores.

Why did Big Tech drop their lawsuit?

Despite CCIA’s lawsuit filed in February, the Utah Legislature didn’t narrow or reverse the law during the 2026 legislative session — they strengthened it.

Lawmakers expanded the App Store Accountability Act to cover pre-installed apps, apps that change to include ads and accounts created before the law goes into effect.

In reaction to CCIA’s lawsuit, they did remove a provision that allowed state agencies to enforce parts of the law under Utah’s deceptive trade practices statute.

The CCIA recognized this change when the updated bill became law in March, but continued to allege constitutional First Amendment violations for another month.

On April 21, the Utah Attorney General’s Office reaffirmed the law does not authorize enforcement by a government entity; it only creates a private right of action.

After suing the state, allegedly over free speech concerns, the industry group, representing Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, withdrew its complaint the same day.

“With the state’s confirmation that it will not and cannot enforce this statute, the Association’s complaint has achieved its objective,” CCIA President & CEO Matt Schruers told the Deseret News in a statement.

Leading the nation in child protection

Utah’s law, empowering parents to sue Big Tech giants who fail to get parental consent for app downloads, emerged almost entirely intact from the legal battle.

CCIA’s decision to drop its lawsuit before a judge ruled on the law cements Utah’s status as a leader on child-protection policies and signals a national shift, Weiler said.

“It was a victory for the law,” Weiler said. “ I think that the day of reckoning, it’s not coming, it’s already here. And I think that we need to see a lot of reform. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting our kids.”

In 2023, Utah passed landmark legislation forcing social media to verify users’ ages, to give maximum privacy to minors and to remove addictive engagement features.

The law quickly invited litigation from NetChoice, representing Google, Meta and Snapchat, and was enjoined in 2024 while its constitutionality is litigated.

During the legislative session, lawmakers postponed implementation of the App Store Accountability Act from May 2026 to 2027 to see how tech companies respond.

Weiler expects Utah to become the first state with app store age verifications next year after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld similar requirements for porn websites in June.

What’s next for Utah’s law?

But the national legal environment is still far from settled on the question of age verification measure.

In December, CCIA successfully pushed for an injunction on a similar law in Texas as part of a national push to discourage states from pursuing age verification proposals.

Texas has appealed the ruling. It is expected to end up before the United States Supreme Court, which has signaled a desire to balance free speech with child protection.

The Digital Childhood Institute, the Utah-based group behind the App Store Accountability Act, filed an amicus brief in support of the Texas law, which it also helped to craft.

The Texas law, passed a few months after Utah’s, has stricter requirements around age ratings, and tasks the attorney general, instead of private citizens, with holding companies liable.

But, according to the amicus brief, which was filed with the Utah conservative think tank Sutherland Institute, lawsuits against app store age restrictions dodge the main question:

Should apps make contracts with minors without a parent being informed about what their child is agreeing to?

Corinne Johnson, executive director of Utah’s Child First Policy Center, said the fact that more than a dozen other states are following Utah’s lead suggests that the answer is clear.

“Big Tech spent enormous resources trying to kill a law that simply asks them to be accountable to Utah families,” Johnson said in a statement. “They failed. The App Store Accountability Act stands.”