Any decent adult, whether a parent or not, knows the threats to minors that lurk online. No graphic details are needed here about the internet horrors that tech-savvy children can easily stumble upon or, depending on their age, seek out themselves.
Yet, proposed remedies to shield minors from online sex, violence, and the like are complicated. Tech companies often push back against efforts to, among other things, impose age verification systems for minors, even if wealthy tech executives don’t make the most sympathetic characters in the court of public opinion, as they are chiefly concerned about less use for their products and a possible hit in the bottom line.
Civil libertarians, too, often take issue with age verification efforts. They warn of privacy and free speech violations. They contend the measures would require all users, not just minors, to provide age-verifying information so they can access content online.
The issue, though, isn’t going away. Online safety advocates are ramping up age verification efforts through a two-track legislative strategy. They’re pushing to enact individual state laws while building political momentum for eventual national rules.
This is why app stores are a new online bogeyman of sorts in state capitals.
In March, Utah enacted a law requiring app stores, including Alphabet’s Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, to verify users’ ages. The goal is to shield minors from adult content and reduce online harm to youngsters. Both Google and Apple opposed the measure, but the law is set to go into effect on May 7 unless thwarted in court.
That’s not a far-fetched scenario because courts have repeatedly struck down other state online safety laws. Industry group NetChoice, which counts both Meta and Google among its members, successfully blocked not only a previous version of Utah’s online age verification law from taking effect but also similar ones in Arkansas, California, Ohio, Mississippi, and Texas.
But Beehive State lawmakers and Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT), who recently signed the proposal into law, may have found a workaround from previous court fights with tech companies and civil libertarian groups. The incoming law takes a slightly different tack than previous efforts by putting the onus of responsibility for age verification on mobile apps. That is, it will be the responsibility of Apple and Google, instead of individual apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and X, to do age checks.
The pending Utah law also highlights a divide in the tech industry between app store owners and social media platforms. Reports indicate that Meta, Snap, and X, all notably not operators of app stores, have lobbied in support of this new approach. A letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, to South Dakota’s state Senate Judiciary Committee from all three companies reads, “Parents want a simple, manageable way to verify their child’s age and review the apps their teens want to download. The most sensible and effective place for age verification is at the OS/app store level.” The companies argue that the approach represents the most hassle-free option for parents.
App store owners, though, are unlikely to just accept the new Utah online age verification law.
“These run into almost all of the same First Amendment problems as other proposals,” R Street Institute fellow Shoshana Weissmann told the Washington Examiner. “Unfortunately, some websites support these laws not out of principle but because it means less regulatory burden for them.”
Google’s director of public policy, Kareem Ghanem, agreed in a blog post ahead of Utah’s vote.
“There are a variety of fast-moving legislative proposals being pushed by Meta and other companies in an effort to offload their own responsibilities to keep kids safe to app stores,” Ghanem wrote.
Ghanem’s post detailed Google’s preferred approach, which “shares responsibility between app stores and developers, and protects children’s privacy and the decision rights of parents.”
Concerns around privacy and efficacy may also persist in proposed laws along the lines of Utah’s.
“One key issue is that these laws create legal complexity and privacy risk around something that already exists,” Weissmann wrote. “Parents can already require that their kids gain consent before downloading apps, and they can do so without having to give up any personally identifying information.”
Last year, Meta moved in advance of regulations by voluntarily introducing Instagram Teen Accounts that allow parents to control who can contact their teenagers and what content their minors can view.
Similarly, by the time Utah enacted its law, Apple had already announced new child safety initiatives, including age checking, which allows app developers to access age-range information provided by parents. That system puts the responsibility for age information requests on the developer before the app can be used, not on Apple’s App Store at the time of download.
It’s reasonable to question whether these varied and voluntary industry attempts to improve parental control and child safety will continue if more top-down government regulations, such as the one just enacted in Utah, proliferate across the country.
At least eight more states are considering proposals similar to Utah’s new law. At the federal level, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is expected to reintroduce similar legislation, titled The App Store Accountability Act, from the previous Congress.
“Unfortunately, there appears to be more appetite for these laws than there is for making sure the approach is sound and additive beyond existing technology,” Weissmann said. “I’m sure we’ll see more of this, but the courts have thus far not been kind to these kinds of approaches.”
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