I’m a father of three, an app developer, and the head of the Developers Alliance. I’m personally and professionally invested in the congressional debate over the best way to prevent kids from accessing inappropriate online content. So my interest was piqued by Aiden Buzzetti’s recent Washington Examiner op-ed championing the App Store Accountability Act.
Buzzetti is right that America’s kids urgently need effective protection online. But he’s wrong that the App Store Accountability Act would provide such protection. In fact, ASAA contains critical weaknesses that would leave kids vulnerable to inappropriate online experiences, while giving parents a false sense of their kids’ security.
ASAA would require the biggest app stores, including Apple’s App Store and Google Play, to obtain every customer’s age when they set up an account. Every time a customer started downloading an app, ASAA would require the store to send the app a signal indicating the customer’s age. ASAA would also mandate verified parental consent before minors could download any app.
That may sound like a robust safety system, but it’s not. ASAA doesn’t require risky apps or apps offering different age-based experiences to take any actions based on the age signals they receive. That is a wild misalignment of accountability.
Here’s what that means in practice. Suppose my 10-year-old wanted to download the online game Roblox, which offers both kid-friendly and kid-inappropriate experiences. Under ASAA, I might allow him to download the game, knowing Roblox had received a signal indicating his age. But ASAA wouldn’t hold Roblox, or any other app offering different age-based experiences, responsible for what kids view in the app. There is nothing in the law to protect my son from the violent and profane content in the adult-appropriate experience. That means gaming, dating, and social media apps could still provide kids with violent or adult-oriented online experiences without facing legal repercussions. ASAA’s age-signaling and verification mandates are a smoke screen offering little in the way of real protection.
ASAA contains other gaps that would leave inappropriate material available to kids. The bill only covers apps downloaded from major app stores, leaving a huge loophole for those that can be accessed through websites or come pre-installed on devices. Social media platforms, for example, are easily accessible through the web.
ASAA’s requirements would also hurt millions of small developers who make safe-for-all-ages apps like language-learning app Jernung or illustration app Flipaclip. Requiring parental consent before kids can access these apps would likely mean fewer downloads — and reduced revenue — for small developers. In addition, ASAA would force every developer to spend some $20,000 annually updating their apps to securely receive and store users’ age information — even if they offer benign apps and don’t need or want that information. ASAA could cost the app ecosystem over $70 billion, while delivering minimal safety benefits.
If you’re interested in the quaint idea of constitutional protections, as I am, ASAA also likely violates both developers’ and consumers’ First Amendment rights. By forcing people to provide government IDs to access things like educational or news apps, the bill would infringe on their right to access protected speech. At the same time, blocking people’s access to those apps violates developers’ rights to distribute that speech. State laws similar to ASAA have been stalled by lawsuits in Texas and Ohio.
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A different bill, the Parents Over Platforms Act, offers a more balanced approach to kids’ online safety. POPA would require only adult-oriented apps and apps that offer different experiences for kids and adults to receive age signals. That means developers of safe apps wouldn’t have to make costly updates, benign apps would remain easily accessible, and the bill would likely avoid constitutional snags. Critically, POPA would require risky apps to enable protections for kids and would cover apps downloaded from the web.
I share Buzzetti’s desire to keep young people safe online, and appreciate his interest in this complex issue. But lawmakers should pursue legislation that requires risky apps to protect kids, spares developers from needless regulations, and is constitutionally sound. ASAA fails on all three counts.
Jake Ward is chairman of the Developers Alliance.