Children increasingly access and engage with the internet through smartphone and tablet apps. But app stores and developers have almost no legal duty to protect these vulnerable users.
Congress will consider changing that this year with the App Store Accountability Act.
The bicameral legislation, which Senator Mike Lee (UT) and Representative John James (MI) introduced in May, closes regulatory loopholes that allow:
- Children to download apps, make in-app purchases and sign terms of service contracts without parent’s consent.
- App developers to determine their own age ratings, which neither app stores nor developers are penalized for lying about.
The act is based on model legislation created by Digital Childhood Alliance (DCA), a group of more than 100 child advocacy groups including Focus on the Family-allied Family Policy Alliance.
DCA argues the bill will bring app stores and developers into compliance with U.S. contract law, which requires parties to a contract be at least 18 years old and possess informed consent.
“App stores are the digital gatekeepers of children’s online lives, but they cause systematic harm by treating minors like adults and allowing them to consent to exploitative contracts with large corporations,” DCA writes.
“App stores face little accountability for misleading age ratings, and they routinely make critical details, such as app content descriptions, hard to access,” they continue. “This makes informed consent effectively impossible.”
Unseen Dangers
Unregulated apps and app stores don’t just circumnavigate parents — they strip children of parents’ protection online.
Device-level parental controls don’t filter what children see in apps. Age ratings mean nothing, because app developers are the ones who get to set them.
In the Apple App Store, TikTok rates its app appropriate for ages 12 and up. Apple recommended it change that rating to 17 and up in 2022 after finding the app displayed “frequent or intense mature and suggestive content.
TikTok refused to comply.
Age ratings rarely reflect the content of an app’s advertisements. Games designed for young children can contain violent, pornographic or other harmful pop-up ads. These ads also contain portals to the internet, which children can use to search without parental controls.
To illustrate the scope of the problem, DCA founder Melissa McKay posted a video on X of someone accessing a porn site through the weather app.
“[Google] says it’s ‘silly’ to regulate apps like the weather app, implying most apps pose no risk,” she points out, warning,
The weather app is rated [four-and-up] in the Apple App Store, while [the app’s] own terms of service want parental consent for users [under 18 years old]. And there are MANY back doors to porn.
The Bill
The App Store Accountability Act would force app stores and developers to obtain parental consent before doing business with minors.
The legislation is made up of two components. The first requires app stores to run age-verification checks on people who download apps and tell developers which users are minors. Developers would prompt app stores to re-verify users’ ages every year, or any time they suspect an account has been transferred or hacked.
The second component increases app stores and developers’ accountability to parents. App stores would have to obtain parental consent before allowing a minor to download, purchase or make purchases inside an app.
Stores would also have to notify parents if one of their child’s apps:
- Monetizes new features.
- Changes the kinds of user data it collects or how it collects them.
- Changes its age rating or description.
The act wouldn’t require developers to communicate directly with parents. It would, however, force them to acknowledge underage users and follow applicable child protection laws — including those limiting what online data can be mined from minors.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would investigate violations of the App Store Accountability Act as deceptive and unfair business practices. The legislation would also allow states to sue violators on behalf of their citizens.
Powerful Incentives
The App Store Accountability Act shields developers from legal liability if an app store fails to provide them with age-verification data. But this carveout only applies to developers that can prove they acted in good faith to protect young users from accessing inappropriate content.
That means developers have significant legal incentive to shield children from harm — even if the law doesn’t explicitly require it.
In the States
Utah, Texas and Louisiana have passed state-level App Store Accountability laws based on Digital Childhood Alliance’s model legislation. Each allows affected families to sue app stores and developers for violations.
Ohio lawmakers introduced an App Store Accountability bill in April. Alabama failed to pass one earlier this year after intense push-back from Big Tech lobbies and e-commerce sites.
Why It Matters
It’s parents’ responsibility to protect their children online — but they deserve a fighting chance. Unregulated app stores and developers make it difficult for even the most conscientious parents to shield their kids from internet garbage.
The Daily Citizen supports any legislation that enables parents to better do their jobs.
To learn more about the act, click here.
To learn more about tech safety check out the links below.
Additional Articles and Resources
A.I. Company Releases Sexually-Explicit Chatbot on App Rated Appropriate for 12 Year Olds
‘The Tech Exit’ Helps Families Ditch Addictive Tech — For Good
Supreme Court Upholds Age-Verification Law
UPDATED: Pornography Age Verification Laws — What They Are and Which States have Them
Proposed SCREEN Act Could Protect Kids from Porn
‘Big Tech’ Device Designs Dangerous for Kids, Research Finds
President Donald Trump, First Lady Sign ‘Take it Down’ Act
Social Psychologist Finds Smartphones and Social Media Harm Kids in These Four Ways
Four Ways to Protect Your Kids from Bad Tech, From Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt
