Tim Cook Called Texas Governor to Stop App Store Age Checking Legislation ⇥ wsj.com

Rolfe Winkler, Amrith Ramkumar, and Meghan Bobrowsky, Wall Street Journal:

Apple stepped up efforts in recent weeks to fight Texas legislation that would require the iPhone-maker to verify ages of device users, even drafting Chief Executive Tim Cook into the fight.

The CEO called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week to ask for changes to the legislation or, failing that, for a veto, according to people familiar with the call. These people said that the conversation was cordial and that it made clear the extent of Apple’s interest in stopping the bill.

Abbott has yet to say whether he will sign it, though it passed the Texas legislature with veto-proof majorities.

This comes just a few months after Apple announced it would be introducing age range APIs in iOS later this year. Earlier this month, U.S. lawmakers announced federal bills with the same intent. This is clearly the direction things are going. Is there something specific in Texas’ bill that makes it particularly objectionable? Or is it simply the case Apple and Google would prefer a single federal law instead of individual state laws?