The Kids Online Safety Act Was a Good Start, But App Stores Need Accountability Too

History’s first “digital natives,” members of Gen Z, are experiencing such acute levels of emotional strain and depression that Jonathan Haidt has described them as “the anxious generation.” The omnipresence of social media is a primary driver of this crisis.

In response, some states have passed laws requiring platforms to age verify their users and obtain parental consent for kids to gain access. On the federal level, the Senate has passed the Kids Online Safety Act, which, among other things, imposes a duty of care on social media companies, obliging them to design their products to be safe for children.

These regulations—which we wholeheartedly endorse—address negative practices perpetrated by the platforms themselves. But it is also critical to recognize that the platforms are not solely responsible for supplying their own dangerous commodities. Other Silicon Valley corporations are also profiting—beyond one’s wildest dreams—from being the distributors of these addictive products: namely, smartphone manufacturers and their app stores.

Currently, smartphones and app stores function as the gateway between young users and harmful content. They control access to millions of apps and digital services yet fail to effectively restrict minors from inappropriate material or engaging in exploitative contracts with powerful corporations. To break the hold of these platforms on our kids, app store regulation is critical.

In the fall of last year, two of us released a policy paper calling upon lawmakers to adopt legislation to make app stores and devices safe for kids. Now, members of Congress are answering that call. Recently, the “App Store Accountability Act” was introduced in the House as an amendment by Rep. John James (R-Mich.). It has four key components—age verification, parental consent, transparency requirements and industry oversight—which are essential to this effort.

The core of the act is its requirement for age verification to set up an app store ID. Just as state and federal law requires brick-and-mortar stores to check ID for purchases of age-restricted products like cigarettes and alcohol, app stores would be responsible for verifying users’ ages for the apps they sell. As James explained, "When a person walks into a convenience store, we require that store to check ID when they purchase cigarettes or alcohol or lottery tickets. We also hold the store liable when kids access those products improperly…[T]he app ecosystem should be no different than what has already been proven out in the private sector."

Fortunately, this would be technically simple to implement, as companies like Apple and Google already collect user birthdates during sign-up. The basic infrastructure for age verification is currently in place.

The bill also obligates the devices of users under 18 to be linked to a parent or guardian’s account for ongoing supervision. This is currently required for device users under the age of 13. The law merely extends this parental linking to be the default until a user is 18.

This addresses the worry that age verification would force minors to submit sensitive information to untrustworthy companies; linking a device to a supervisory account solves that problem. Parents can vouch for their child’s age without submitting their formal identification—which would also deter a child from lying about how old they are. The app store could then transmit the age of the minor user to apps upon download via an anonymous, encrypted signal that indicates whether the user is age-eligible for their product, or not.

Stories of children being harmed after using apps designed for adults would become much rarer, as a result. Such as the recent case of a 14-year-old being dismembered by an adult stranger who connected with the victim via the adult hookup app Grindr. With genuine age-gating at the app-store level, encounters like these will no longer be routine. But still more is needed and required.

For users under 18, the act institutes parental consent for every instance of an app download or in-app purchase. If individuals must be 18, the logic goes, to enter binding contracts independently—for example, minors can’t apply for bank loans, purchase vehicles, or obtain a driver’s license without parental consent—they should also be 18 to independently agree to the terms and services of multi-billion-dollar companies who deal their wares via an app store.

Consent for app downloads, and other available smartphone parental controls, rely heavily on app age ratings to determine the content children can access. But child safety advocates have pointed to fundamental flaws in the app rating system that undermines the very possibility of effective parental consent and oversight.

Age ratings are largely determined by the app developers and are often vague, misleading and inconsistently enforced, making it difficult for parents to understand what content is appropriate for their children. When app ratings are misleading or inaccurate, the app stores rarely penalize them. A mother recently spoke out on social media about how her preteen son had been exposed—while playing a cartoon app rated in the Apple App Store as safe for kids 12 and older—to in-app ads for sexual roleplaying games, featuring a strip tease, marijuana cultivation and gambling.

Adding confusion to confusion, Apple and Google use completely different ratings systems. In sum, it is extremely difficult for parents to make informed decisions regarding app downloads, rendering the legal validity of their consent at least questionable.
The “App Store Accountability Act” addresses these issues by requiring app stores to provide a clear and easily-identifiable means for understanding the age rating of every single app in the store, helping parents to be more cognizant of the potential risks of an app to their children when deciding whether to consent to its download.

In addition, the legislation would also form a new consultative body, consisting of industry representatives and pro-family advocates, tasked with recommending best practices regarding the age ratings in the app stores to help align them with the interests of their families and children. When parents in the 1990s faced a similar challenge with Nintendo and Sega—then the giants of the video game industry—having differing rating systems, congressional hearings prompted the establishment of the Entertainment Software Rating Board. This board then introduced a consistent rating system across the video game industry to help parents accurately assess video games prior to purchase. This new app-ratings committee would seek to provide similar help to parents.

Implementing device-based age verification, requiring parental supervision for minor accounts and parental consent for app downloads, and demanding accurate app ratings from the industry, would all create a safer digital app environment for kids in which parents are effectively involved. Congress should pass the App Store Accountability Act. Our children deserve nothing less.

Michael Toscano is executive director of the Institute for Family Studies. Clare Morell is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author of the forthcoming book, “The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones,” which will be published by Penguin Random House. Adam Candeub is a professor of law at MSU College of Law and a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published at The Hill. It has been reprinted here with permission.