The App Store Accountability Act was introduced last Congress to address the growing dangers facing children online. As kids spend increasingly more time on their devices, they are more likely to be exposed to explicit content and predatory behavior on the internet. This nefarious activity is enabled and amplified by inadequate guardrails on app stores. The App Store Accountability Act would address this critical issue.
When introducing the App Store Accountability Act, Senator Mike Lee, the bill’s sponsor, said, “App stores and developers have prioritized profits over the safety of our children.” Instead of ensuring child well-being and parental involvement, app stores incentivize children to download new platforms quickly. Unfortunately, those new platforms could allow bad actors direct contact with young children. App stores are not incentivized to eliminate these criminals from their platforms.
The App Store Accountability Act would require age verification and parental consent for children and teenagers to download any new app. This would add a much-needed line of defense between children and dangerous actors. Parents would be able to approve—or block—apps that could expose their kids to harm.
A strength of this approach is that it will continue to be effective as the digital world evolves. Centralizing guardrails in the app store ensures that emerging or unknown apps are also captured and can’t slip past parents’ notice.
Without regulations that give parents the necessary tools to defend their children from online dangers, app stores will continue to allow inappropriate and dangerous content to be easily downloaded onto our kids’ devices. This bill has the power to implement these common sense regulations.
The App Store Accountability Act should be re-introduced to Congress this year. We urgently need legislative action that prioritizes parents in this battle against the growing threats of the digital world.
