United States of America: Computer & Communications Industry Association filed motion opposing state motion to stay preliminary injunction

On 6 February 2026, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) Plaintiffs submitted a legal response to the state's motion to stay a preliminary injunction against SB 2420. The filing argues that the State of Texas failed to meet the legal requirements for a stay pending appeal and that enforcing the law would cause irreparable harm to the First Amendment rights of app stores, developers, and users. The Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act (SB 2420) mandates that app stores and digital service providers implement age verification for all users and obtain parental consent before allowing minors to download applications or purchase content. The Act aims to protect minors from content that the state considers addictive or harmful. Under the Act, app stores are required to verify the age of users and rate content for age appropriateness. The CCIA and SEAT Plaintiffs contend that these obligations constitute an overbroad restriction on protected speech. They state that the law creates unrecoverable compliance costs and indirectly stifles the rights of adults to access lawful information. The court previously issued a preliminary injunction on 23 December 2025, determining that SB 2420 was likely unconstitutional and failed to survive even intermediate scrutiny. In the current filing, the plaintiffs highlight that the state waited over one month after the injunction and 3 weeks after the law's scheduled effective date of 1 January 2026 to seek a stay. They argue that this delay undermines the state’s claim of urgent harm.