New law might require Apple and Google to card you before you can enter their app stores
Imagine that it's your 18th birthday. Armed with your Driver's License or other piece of government-issued identification that verifies your age, you get together with your friends and secure in the knowledge that you're now 18, you do what every teen does on his or her 18th birthday. You visit the App Store and purchase apps for your iPhone. This could be a scenario that plays out if a new bill set to be introduced by two Republican lawmakers makes it through to the White House and gets signed into law by the president.
The App Store Accountability Act would force app store users to verify their ages before downloading an app
The thing is, this bill would force app stores to verify the ages of all users and pass that info over to app developers. This potential nationwide legislation, titled the App Store Accountability Act, is based on a similar bill that became state law in Utah earlier this year. The law would go into effect one year after the president signs it. There are many questions about whether such legislation would be constitutional.
Utah Senator Mike Lee is one of the sponsors of the App Store Accountability Act. | Image credit-Senator Mike Lee
Also unknown is how the age of young app users would be verified since they usually don't have any government-issued IDs. But what we do know is that the legislation was introduced on Thursday by Utah Senator Mike Lee (R) and Michigan Representative John James (R). It will require that app stores with at least 5 million users verify the age of anyone signing up for an account.
Once obtaining this information, the app stores, which include Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, would have to pass along to app developers a user's age category as follows:
- Young Child-under the age of 13.
- Child-13- to 15-years-old.
- Teenager-16-to-17-years old.
- Adult-18 and older.
While the app developers would be given the ages of those installing their apps, they would not receive any other personal information. Parental consent would be required before minors would be allowed to download an app or make an in-app purchase. Senator Lee said that the goal of the legislation is to prevent children from being able to access any apps that could leave them exposed to "violent and sexual material while risking contact from predators online." He added that "Our legislation brings age verification and accountability to the source of the problem."
Why social media firms are ecstatic about this legislation
Social media companies are happy about this legislation since it would put the onus on app stores to verify a user's age without having individual apps do this work. In a joint statement made after the aforementioned similar law passed in Utah, social media behemoths Snap, X, and Meta said, "Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child’s age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it."
"While only a fraction of apps on the App Store may require age verification, all users would have to hand over their sensitive personally identifying information to us — regardless of whether they actually want to use one of these limited set of apps. That’s not in the interest of user safety or privacy."
-Apple
Apple and Google aren't happy having the entire age verification process falling on their app stores. Both say that app stores and app developers should share responsibility for making sure that children are installing and using only age-appropriate apps. In a statement, Google spokeswoman Danielle Cohen said, "We believe in shared responsibility between app stores and developers, and think it’s critical to protect children’s privacy and the decision rights of parents. We’ll continue engaging with Congressional leaders on this important issue."
If the bill becomes law (to find out how this occurs, tap on this link), all App Store and Play Store users would have to provide a government-issued ID or a scan of their face to be allowed entry into certain app stores. While Apple and Google already take steps to prevent porn and graphic violence from appearing in their app stores, parents seemed more worried about popular social media sites like Instagram and Snap even though both have improved their plans to prevent children from seeing "objectionable” content.
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