Google is not happy that Meta is publicly backing a Utah bill that would require the search giant (and Apple) to police people’s ages on its app store. It’s urging the governor to veto the bill.
“There are a variety of fast-moving legislative proposals being pushed by Meta and other companies in an effort to offload their own responsibilities to keep kids safe to app stores,” Kareem Ghanem, Google’s director of public policy, writes in a blog post.
At issue is SB 142, the App Store Accountability Act. It passed the state legislature earlier this month and, if signed into law by Republican Governor Spencer Cox, would make Utah the first US state to put the onus of age verification on app store operators like Google and Apple instead of app developers like Meta.
Naturally, Meta welcomes that approach. In a joint statement with X and Snap, it said: “Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child’s age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it, and more than a quarter of states have introduced bills recognizing the central role app stores play. We applaud Utah for putting parents in charge with its landmark legislation and urge Congress to follow suit.”
According to Google, the legislation forces Google Play and Apple’s App Store to share kids’ age information with all developers, and thereby “raises real privacy and safety risks, like the potential for bad actors to sell the data or use it for other nefarious purposes.”
In contrast, Google proposes shared responsibility between app stores and developers. If a developer knows their app’s content is inappropriate for children, they should submit a request for users’ age information to the app store, Google says. Upon receiving a request, the app store will share a bare minimum age signal with the developer, who will then be responsible for enabling appropriate safety measures within the app.
“Because developers know their apps best, they are best positioned to determine when and where an age-gate might be beneficial to their users, and that may evolve over time, which is another reason why a one-size-fits-all approach won’t adequately protect kids,” Google says.
Google also proposes blocking personalized, targeted ads for kids and taking strict action against developers who misuse age information.
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Apple’s views on the age-verification debate largely echo Google’s. In an online safety report released last month, Apple said: “The right place to address the dangers of age-restricted content online is the limited set of websites and apps that host that kind of content.”
If Gov. Cox approves the bill, most of its provisions will take effect on May 7. A company spokesperson tells Engadget that Google has formally requested that Cox veto the bill.
Similar legislation has been proposed in eight other states, including South Carolina, South Dakota, Alaska, Kentucky, Alabama, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Hawaii. Apple reportedly lobbied against a bill in Louisiana last year and got it nixed.
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