The fight over a key internet protection for children is ramping up in Washington, where Big Tech companies are pinning the responsibility on each other as lawmakers push for stricter requirements. <\/p>\n
After months of action in the states, age verification legislation made its way to Congress last week, when Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. John James (R-Mich.) introduced a bill<\/a> that would put the onus on app stores run by Apple and Google to verify all users\u2019 ages. <\/p>\n \u201cKids cannot consent \u2014 and any company that exposes them to addictive or adult material should be held accountable,\u201d James said, adding the bill \u201cholds Big Tech companies to the same standard as local corner stores.\u201d <\/p>\n The issue is uniquely pitting some of the country\u2019s largest technology firms, including Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, against other tech giants.<\/p>\n Meta is part of a new lobbying group, The Coalition for Competitive Mobile Experience, which launched in Washington last week with age verification on the app store as one of its main policy goals.\u00a0The coalition is also focused on anticompetitive practices, and its executive director, Brandon Kressin, argued better age verification would exist if there was not “a lack of competition” among the app stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n The coalition maintains app stores are best suited to handle age verification because they already have the age data, while Apple and Google argue the approach would still require\u00a0sharing data with app-makers. \u00a0<\/p>\n Lee and James\u2019s bill, titled the App Store Accountability Act, would be the first of its kind at the federal level. It would require app stores to\u00a0determine a user’s age \u201ccategory,\u201d which differentiates age groups younger than 18, and then send the data to app developers. \u00a0<\/p>\n Parents or guardians would also need to give permission for users who are minors to access the app store. This is aimed at disrupting “the child-to-stranger pipeline,\u201d Lee explained in an op-ed published<\/a> in The Hill last week with Michael Toscano, director of the Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies.\u00a0<\/p>\n The legislation \u201ctackles the grave danger of apps systemically misleading parents with deceptive ratings, funneling millions of children toward dangerous and inappropriate content,\u201d Lee and Toscano wrote. <\/p>\n The bill\u00a0resembles efforts underway in several U.S. states, including Lee\u2019s home state of Utah \u2014 the first in the country<\/a>\u00a0to pass a law putting the responsibility on app stores. The Utah law is slated to take effect Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than a dozen states proposed similar bills this year. <\/p>\n It comes amid a broader push in Congress to pass kids online safety legislation after lawmakers failed to pass most related bills last term. The issue is hotly contested issue among lawmakers and policy groups, but consensus is hard to come by.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers were handed a rare win last month with the passage of the Take It Down Act, a bill criminalizing deepfake revenge porn. It now heads to President Trump\u2019s desk, and he indicated earlier this year he would sign it. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen excitement in the tech policy space with the Take It Down Act…There was a significant moment and progress here that empowered Congress to [say], \u2018look, we can legislate here, “said Andrew Zack, the policy manager for the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute. \u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Zack noted the age verification bill is \u201cpartisan,\u201d and there is not yet a coalition in Congress to \u201cfully embrace the app store [as the] end all be all.\u201d <\/p>\n The proposal could face hurdles even with Big Tech critics in Congress. <\/p>\n \u201cAge verification is largely ineffective,\u201d Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill. \u201cIt is so easily worked around by young people, who frankly think it\u2019s laughable that we would rely on age verification to protect them.\u201d <\/p>\n Blumenthal was the co-lead on the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill to create regulations for the kinds of features tech and social media companies offer kids online. It has failed to pass in recent years but is expected to be reintroduced this session.<\/p>\n Meta, X and Snap quickly came out in support of the Lee-James bill, writing in a joint statement that parents would be \u201cspared the burden of repeated approvals and age verification requirements across the countless apps.\u201d <\/p>\n Meta has taken heat for its platforms\u2019 impact on children and is facing numerous lawsuits on the issue. <\/p>\n Less than a year after CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families during a congressional hearing, Instagram rolled out new \u201cTeen Accounts,\u201d<\/a> and said last month it is using artificial intelligence technology to detect accounts<\/a> of teenagers posing as adults. <\/p>\n A Meta spokesperson pointed to these features while noting the \u201cmost effective way to understand age is by obtaining.\u201d <\/p>\n In many policy conversations, these social media platforms are grouped together with tech giants Apple and Google. But this time, the two app store operators fall on the other side of the argument. <\/p>\n Apple and Google contend exchanging data between stores and apps still risks adults’ and minors\u2019 privacy. <\/p>\n