There’s been growing pressure to protect children from age-inappropriate content in both apps and websites at both state and federal levels.
Moves to shift the responsibility from individual developers to app stores is gaining momentum, and that’s reflected in a new proposed law: the App Store Accountability Act …
Currently, it’s app developers who are legally responsible for ensuring that they carry out age verification of their users where required. However, Utah and Texas have already made Apple and Google responsible for age verification, with many other states considering similar legislation.
The Verge reports that a federal law could see it applied nationwide.
The new approach to age verification orders mobile app stores to verify users’ ages, then send that information to apps when users download them […] On Tuesday, it appeared in Congress as part of a package of kids safety legislation as the App Store Accountability Act (ASA).
Apple has so far opposed the idea, but there does seem to be growing consensus that it makes sense.
The bill’s sponsors frame it as a straightforward solution — a “commonsense measure,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), co-sponsor of the House version, tells The Verge in a statement. Rep. James says the bill simply “holds Big Tech companies to the same standard as local corner stores.”
This is in reference to the fact that it is retail stores who have the legal responsibility to comply with restrictions on the sale of age-restricted products like tobacco and firearms.
9to5Mac’s Take
I’ve long argued that this is by far the best approach from both privacy and convenience perspectives.
Forcing users to hand over government photo ID and video selfies to an endless array of developers is a privacy nightmare. I’d far rather trust Apple to verify identity and age once, and then simply block downloads of age-inappropriate apps.
It would also be a way better user experience if each of us only had to verify our age one time, rather than every single time we downloaded a new age-gated app.
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