Available evidence shows that Texas has not enacted any law or regulation that bans or technically disables browser incognito/private-browsing modes, whether for pornography or any other content.

What Texas did do after July 2024:

1. Porn age‑verification law (HB 1181) – Texas requires commercial pornography sites to use “reasonable age verification methods” (e.g., government ID or transactional data) to ensure users are 18+, with significant civil penalties for non‑compliance. The statute regulates websites, not browsers, and its text makes no reference to incognito or private browsing modes.

   • Bill analysis and press releases describe ID‑based age checks and damages but do not mention disabling private browsing. (capitol.texas.gov)
   • In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2025 upheld this age‑verification requirement, again with no discussion of banning or altering browser features. (theverge.com)
   • Some major sites (e.g., Pornhub) chose to block access from Texas entirely, but that is a business response to HB 1181, not a state prohibition on incognito mode. (texasattorneygeneral.gov)

2. Children’s online safety / social media laws (HB 18, SCOPE Act) – These impose age‑verification, parental‑consent, and content‑filtering obligations on platforms for minors, and have been partly enjoined on First Amendment grounds. Again, they govern platform behavior and data practices, not the availability of private browsing modes in browsers. (en.wikipedia.org)

3. Litigation over Google’s Incognito mode – Texas sued Google alleging Incognito/private browsing misled users about privacy, and later reached a large settlement. The case framed Incognito as a deceptive trade practice but did not result in any statute or regulation banning the feature, and the appeals court dismissed the DTPA suit for lack of jurisdiction before the settlement. The settlement terms focus on money and disclosures, and news reports explicitly note it does not require product changes. (texasattorneygeneral.gov)

Positive evidence that incognito remains lawful and in active use in Texas includes, for example, a University of Texas site that recommends visitors try private/incognito mode if a legislative dashboard fails to load—something that would be impossible if incognito browsing were banned by state law. (reports.utexas.edu)

Across Texas statutes and recent court decisions, there is no indication of any law that prohibits, disables, or uniquely targets browser incognito/private‑browsing modes for pornography or any other content. Texas has pursued age‑ and content‑based regulation of websites and aggressive privacy enforcement against companies, not a technical ban on browser private modes. Therefore, Chamath’s prediction that “Texas is going to ban incognito mode” did not come true.