Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General - Leading aggressive state-level privacy enforcement

California passed the first comprehensive state privacy law in 2018. Eight years later, twenty states have followed, creating a regulatory patchwork that now covers roughly half the American population. Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island's laws took effect January 1, 2026, joining a wave of amendments and enforcement actions that force every consumer-facing app to reckon with data collection practices.

Updated Feb 11

Attorney General of Texas - Filed appeal to Fifth Circuit challenging SB 2420 injunction on December 26; continues defending multiple age verification laws after Supreme Court porn age verification win

On Christmas Eve 2024, a federal judge blocked Texas from forcing Apple and Google to verify every user's age before they could download apps. It was the latest casualty in a nationwide wave of age verification laws—over half of U.S. states passed them in two years—that kept running into the same problem: judges said they violated the First Amendment. Just nine days earlier, courts struck down age verification schemes in Louisiana and Arkansas on the same day, part of a December 2025 blitz that killed three state laws in two weeks. But in late November, the 11th Circuit handed states their first major victory, allowing Florida to enforce HB 3, which bans social media accounts for children under 14.

Updated Dec 27, 2025

Texas Attorney General - Defending multiple tech regulation laws in federal court

A federal judge blocked Texas from forcing Apple and Google to verify every app store user's age, calling the law akin to requiring ID checks at bookstore doors. The December 2024 ruling is the latest defeat in a wave of state attempts to age-gate the internet. Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, and Utah have all seen their social media age verification laws struck down as unconstitutional. But Florida scored a rare victory in November when the 11th Circuit allowed its under-14 ban to take effect while appeals continue—the first state law to survive preliminary challenges.

Updated Dec 26, 2025

Texas Attorney General - Suing Xcel unit over 2024 Smokehouse Creek wildfire

Xcel Energy’s deliberate blackout on Colorado’s Front Range didn’t end neatly when the wind eased. By the time crews could start patrols, the first PSPS was entangled with widespread storm damage—Xcel said total weather-related outages reached about 120,000, far beyond the roughly 50,000 customers initially targeted for de-energization.

Updated Dec 20, 2025