Last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) posted on X that he has introduced the App Store Accountability Act, a proposal that would empower parents and enact a strong safeguard to hold Big Tech accountable. The legislation would require app stores such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play to verify the ages of users who are purchasing apps on their platforms. This commonsense legislation would go a long way to empower parents to safeguard their children’s internet experience while also sidestepping the legal challenges that have hindered other efforts to protect children online.
The digital world is rapidly evolving, and while it opens up new opportunities, it also exposes children to risks that were unimaginable just a decade ago. Platforms such as TikTok, while designed for fun and social interaction, can inadvertently become gateways to harmful content for young users. This problem has prompted experts and lawmakers to advocate stricter controls, such as age verification, to protect children better online.
Lee’s approach to combating online risks involves requiring age verification for app downloads through app stores. This step would make it harder for children to access age-inappropriate content without parental knowledge, providing a digital seatbelt for their online journey. Implementing such measures could align corporate incentives with family safety, as seen with bipartisan efforts such as the Kids Online Safety Act.
Protecting children online isn’t solely the responsibility of governments or corporations — it requires collaboration from parents, educators, and society as a whole. As technology evolves, so must our strategies to ensure it serves as a tool for growth, not harm.
For Google, it isn’t that it owns an app store, but also YouTube, the No. 1 streaming platform in the world and a platform children use more. In fact, a recent Gallup study found that teenagers, on average, spend almost two hours daily on YouTube. According to Pew, 93% of surveyed teenagers say they use YouTube, compared to 59% who use Instagram. Anyone with a child knows that through a simple search, his or her child could be exposed to everything and anything, good or bad.
This amount of time on YouTube is compounded by another study published by the Institute for Family Studies, which concluded that of the various platforms used by children, “mental health problems were only associated with YouTube and TikTok.”
Legislators should note this connection. When the most popular and possibly most harmful app isn’t even featured, it’s really a missed opportunity.
With so much focus on initiatives by state and federal policymakers to improve age verification practices, there is an opportunity to take a more holistic practice. Considering how much debate there is about access via smartphones favored by children, it would make sense to look at this means of connection. Specifically, looking at the app store instead of taking a “whack-a-mole” approach and going to one app or site at a time.
In a Newsweek column, Adam Candeub and Clare Morell make this point: “Apple and Google could verify user age on the device once and the device verification could be integrated with social media platforms and other apps or websites with age thresholds, with the added benefit of increased protection of user privacy.”
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Likewise, Kara Frederick of the Heritage Foundation and Joel Thayer of the Digital Progress Institute bring attention to the constitutional value of looking at the app stores to pass First Amendment concerns. In a Daily Signal post, they explain that legislative efforts to beef up protections for children should take a holistic approach to pass judicial muster. Frederick and Thayer point out that “Apple and Google provide parents several tools to shield kids from certain apps and wondered why the state needed to go through social media platforms to do what the app stores ought to.”
Lee’s age verification for apps is a straightforward, commonsense solution to a growing problem. By embracing it, we can create a safer and healthier online environment for the next generation, ensuring their digital experiences are enriching and secure. Congress has an incredible opportunity to push forward on this effective approach to empowering parents and protecting children online.
Nathan Leamer is the executive director of the Digital First Project.