A pair of Republican lawmakers are set to propose a new law that would require app stores to verify the ages of all users and share that information with app developers, following a similar state law that was signed in Utah earlier this year.
If passed, the legislation, called the App Store Accountability Act, could mark the first major federal online safety legislation in years and would significantly change how users engage with app stores. The law would go into effect one year after its passing.
The proposed law could make it easier, in theory, for tech platforms to provide safe experiences for kids. But app store operators and privacy experts have noted that the approach could raise legal and practical questions, including how to verify the ages of young users without government IDs.
The bill — set to be introduced by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. John James of Michigan on Thursday — would require app store operators with at least 5 million users to verify users’ ages when they sign up for an account, according to a draft provided exclusively to CNN.
App stores, including those run by Apple and Google, would be required to inform app developers of a user’s age category — “young child” as under the age of 13; “child” as 13- to 15-years-old; “teenager” as 16- to 17-years-old; or “adult” as 18 or older — while protecting their personal information. Parental consent would be required before minors can download or make purchases through an app.
Lee said in a statement that the legislation is designed to prevent children from accessing apps where they could be exposed to “violent and sexual material while risking contact from predators online.”
“Our legislation brings age verification and accountability to the source of the problem,” Lee said.
A potential win for social media giants
The proposal comes as lawmakers and tech platforms have faced pressure to make the internet safer, especially for young users.
Its passing would be a major win for social media companies, including Meta, Snap and X, that have endorsed the idea of making app stores a sort of central clearinghouse for age verification. That way, individual platforms could provide safer experiences for young users without having to check their ages themselves.
“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,” Meta, X and Snap said in a joint statement after the similar legislation in Utah passed.
Apple and Google, however, have pushed back on legislation that would require them to verify the ages of all users, saying that app stores and app developers should share responsibility for age verification. They’re also pushing for privacy-protected age data to be shared only with platforms that need 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,” Apple, which has long made privacy central to its brand, said in a report published in February. “That’s not in the interest of user safety or privacy.”
Both Apple and Google also already take steps to prevent “objectionable” content, such as graphic violence or pornography, on their app stores. But many parents and online safety experts are most worried about mainstream social media apps like Snap and Meta’s Instagram, although those companies have ramped up youth safety efforts in recent years.
Privacy questions
Privacy and legal experts have previously raised concerns about the app store age verification approach.
While users wouldn’t have to hand over information to verify their age across multiple platforms, they’d still need to provide personal data — likely a government ID or a scan of their face — to verify their age. And it wouldn’t just apply to children, but to anyone who uses the app store, regardless of what apps they want to access.
Tech industry-backed advocacy group Chamber of Progress also previously warned that the Utah law could run afoul of the First Amendment by forcing adults to choose between handing over personal information or accessing “legally protected online speech.”
But the two GOP lawmakers who have proposed the App Store Accountability Act say the bill would provide needed support for parents and caregivers, who are currently under pressure to closely monitor their kids’ social media use.
“Kids cannot consent — and any company that exposes them to addictive or adult material should be held accountable,” James said in a statement. “The App Store Accountability Act holds Big Tech companies to the same standard as local corner stores.”