In a bid to ensure the online safety of users, especially minors, US lawmakers have unveiled a new bill that would make it mandatory for app stores to verify the age of every user.
The age verification requirement would apply to app stores with at least five million users. Known as the App Store Accountability Act, the draft legislation was introduced on Thursday, May 1, by US Senator Mike Lee and John James, member of the US House of Representatives – both of them are from the Republican party – according to a report by CNN.
The provisions of the law would kick into effect a year from its passage. If it becomes law, app stores such as Google Play Store and Apple App Store would also be required to categorise users based on their age, such as ‘young child’ for under-13 users, ‘child for 13-15, ‘teenager’ as 16-17, and ‘adult’ for 18 years or older.
Minors would be required to obtain parental consent before downloading apps or making in-app transactions, as per the draft.
While similar legislation was passed in Utah earlier this year, the draft App Store Accountability Act would be the first major online safety legislation at the federal level. However, legal experts have said that it raises privacy concerns since all users would likely need to provide personal data in the form of government IDs or facial recognition data to verify their age.
“Our legislation brings age verification and accountability to the source of the problem,” Senator Mike Lee of Utah was quoted as saying. “Kids cannot consent — and any company that exposes them to addictive or adult material should be held accountable. The App Store Accountability Act holds Big Tech companies to the same standard as local corner stores,” House Representative John James of Michigan said.
The proposed legislation has intensified the clash between app store operators (like Google and Apple) and major social media platforms (such as Meta, X, and Snap) over who is responsible for the online safety of young users.
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“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 had said in a joint statement issued after the Utah law was passed.
Apple and Google, on the other hand, had accused these platforms of offloading their responsibilities to app stores.
“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 had 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,” Google spokesperson Danielle Cohen was quoted as saying.
