Lawmakers Advance App Store Age Verification for Online Safety
▼ Summary
– A House committee advanced a package of child safety bills, including the KIDS Act, Sammy’s Law, and the App Store Accountability Act, which would require app stores to implement age-gating.
– The KIDS Act, a Republican-led bill, omits a key “duty of care” provision from the Senate’s version of KOSA, leading several Democrats to oppose it as a potential block on stronger state-level protections.
– Critics, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, argue the legislation serves as a “smoke screen” for big tech interests and could enable a national surveillance program while failing to protect user data.
– The proposed bills include various requirements, such as age verification for app stores and adult content, alerts for minors interacting with AI chatbots, and tools for parents to manage children’s social media accounts.
– The debate highlights a conflict over responsibility, with some arguing the bills place too much burden on parents rather than forcing platforms to adopt safer design features to protect minors.
A significant legislative package focused on online child safety is now moving to the full House of Representatives after a contentious committee vote. The proposed laws would mandate age verification at the app store level and introduce new rules for social media platforms and AI chatbots. This advancement marks a critical step in a long-running debate over how best to protect minors in digital spaces, though it has exposed deep partisan divides over the approach.
Following an extensive session, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted to forward three key bills. The broadest, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, bundles several proposals. It includes a version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) but notably omits a “duty of care” provision that is central to the Senate’s bipartisan bill, which would require major tech platforms to actively mitigate risks to young users. The KIDS Act also proposes rules to limit features that encourage compulsive usage and would force AI chatbot developers to clearly inform minors when they are interacting with an artificial intelligence, not a human being.
Democratic opposition was vocal, with critics arguing the legislation could prevent states from enacting stronger protections. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sharply criticized the effort, calling it a “smoke screen” for the interests of Big Tech lobbyists. She argued it could enable a “national surveillance program” for data harvesting without delivering real safety. As an example, she pointed to Discord, which recently retreated from its own age verification plans after a user backlash and a security incident where thousands of users’ data was compromised.
The committee also approved the App Store Accountability Act, which specifically targets the digital storefronts run by companies like Apple and Google. This bill would require these stores to implement age verification to prevent minors from downloading age-restricted apps. Additionally, lawmakers advanced Sammy’s Law, which would obligate large social media companies to provide parents with third-party tools to manage their children’s account settings and online interactions.
The push for app store-level checks has ignited a lobbying fight within the tech industry. Companies like Meta and Spotify support shifting this responsibility to the app stores, which would alleviate pressure on their own services. Conversely, Apple and Google are actively lobbying against such mandates, which have already appeared in state-level laws in Utah and Louisiana.
Policy analysts observe that the legislative focus often places the onus on parents rather than compelling systemic changes by platforms. “Lawmakers continue spending time on bills that simply pass on the responsibility for child safety online entirely to parents,” said Morgan Wilsmann of Public Knowledge. While noting some positive elements in the bills, such as addressing risky platform design, Wilsmann emphasized that Congress should concentrate more on the harmful features themselves, like live chats with strangers or endless scrolling, rather than solely on the content children might encounter. The House committee did not vote on a separate update to children’s privacy law, known as COPPA 2.0, which the Senate has already passed unanimously.
(Source: The Verge)
