Utah handed a first-in-the-nation legislation Wednesday requiring app retailer operators like Apple and Google to confirm the ages of customers earlier than permitting downloads.
Dubbed the App Retailer Accountability Act, the Utah legislation additionally requires app shops to get parental consent for minors earlier than downloads.
The measure handed as app retailer operators and social media corporations like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Snap and Google-owned YouTube face intense scrutiny from policymakers over their failures to guard youngsters from dangerous content material.
In a uncommon step, Meta, Snap and X issued a joint assertion praising Utah’s legislation.
The assertion highlights a divide between the app retailer operators and social media firms, every of which declare the opposite aspect is best outfitted to deal with age verification.
“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,” the businesses stated in an announcement. “We applaud Utah for putting parents in charge with its landmark legislation and urge Congress to follow suit.”
Representatives for Apple and Google didn’t instantly return The Submit’s request for remark.
Chamber of Progress, a Huge Tech-funded coverage group that represents the pursuits of Apple, Google and lots of different corporations, stated in a weblog put up that the Utah legislation “sets a dangerous precedent.”
“While the bill purports to protect minors from inappropriate content, it ultimately imposes sweeping restrictions on the free speech rights of all Utahns,” the weblog put up stated.
The invoice now proceeds to the desk of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox for closing approval. If signed, the legislation would take impact on Could 7.
Apple beforehand slammed necessities for age verification on the app retailer degree in its most on-line security report, arguing that doing so would require dad and mom to fork over delicate private data and put their privateness in danger.
“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,” the corporate stated.
Apart from Utah, at the least eight different states have launched related payments associated to age verification as lawmakers scramble to deploy measures that may shield youngsters on-line.
The payments signify one other headache for Google and Apple, every of which face main pending Justice Division antitrust lawsuits that might upend their enterprise fashions.
Different states have positioned the onus on social media corporations. Final June, New York state legislators handed a legislation that requires the businesses to confirm person ages and to get parental consent earlier than permitting underage customers entry to algorithmic feeds.
As The Submit reported on the time, Google and Meta spearheaded a large lobbying effort in an effort to kill or weaken that New York invoice.
With Submit wires
