We would never allow our children to play on broken playground equipment or accept rides from strangers. Yet, children across Alabama encounter far greater dangers every day as they navigate the digital world, where constant supervision is impossible despite our best efforts.
Paradoxically, Apple and Google’s app stores, which tout best-in-class parental controls and privacy safeguards, are at the root of the problem. With a single tap, app stores allow minors to download apps where they can encounter potentially sexually explicit, violent, and dangerous content. In the process, minors enter binding contracts with app developers that exploit children by giving platforms access to their location, microphone, camera, photos, contacts, and more.
With children averaging more than four hours per day on their devices and using over 40 apps per week, even the most vigilant parents struggle to keep up – and misleading, deceitful app store practices only work against their efforts. Fortunately, the federal App Store Accountability Act offers a straightforward solution for parents to reclaim control over their children’s online activities.
Introduced by Representative John James, R-MI, and Senator Mike Lee, R-UT, in May, the App Store Accountability Act would require app stores to obtain verifiable parental consent before minors download apps or make in-app purchases. It would also strengthen content ratings by mandating independent reviews, similar to the movie rating system, helping parents clearly understand what content their children are engaging with. These provisions would eliminate current loopholes that let companies misrepresent their products, ensuring compliance with existing child protection laws.
This approach promises to mitigate online dangers for children without compromising on data privacy or parental rights. Since app stores already collect users’ ages, parents can easily supervise app selection without having to share their children’s data with third-party platforms. Putting the onus on companies like Apple and Google also ensures widespread compliance across all apps – including the slew of AI chatbots and apps most parents are less familiar with than traditional social media platforms – will provide an all-encompassing approach to protecting children online. Just as brick-and-mortar stores are held liable for selling alcohol or tobacco to underage customers, the App Store Accountability Act would hold app stores – emphasis on store – responsible if underage users access mature content.
Child safety laws like the App Store Accountability Act aren’t just common-sense; for vulnerable youth, these critical safeguards can mean the difference between life and death. With roughly 1 in 5 children and teens experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression from online activity and devastating reports of sextortion and cyberbullying proliferating, strengthening online safety should be an urgent priority for Yellowhammer lawmakers. Family-focused solutions that empower parents, not the government, to shape kids’ online experiences are the best means to this end.
Unsurprisingly, the App Store Accountability Act’s provisions are also extremely popular with voters on both sides of the aisle here in Alabama. With support from 89 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of parents, and 75 percent of Democrats, a chorus of Alabamians agree the App Store Accountability Act is the easiest, safest, and most straightforward way to protect kids online. It’s time for Congress to immediately pass the App Store Accountability Act into law.
Still, strengthening online safety is too important to wait on inevitable delays in Washington. Just as states once outpaced Congress on issues like seatbelt laws and alcohol restrictions, they can and should take action now to enhance online safety for their youngest residents.
Passing the App Store Accountability Act here in Alabama, which was already introduced this year and passed the Alabama Senate, will go a long way to protect Alabama’s children today while setting the standard for the rest of the country to follow.
The virtual playground is filled with risks, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. With common-sense guardrails like content ratings, parental approval, and stronger enforcement of existing child protection laws, parents can safeguard their children from online dangers while equipping them with the skills they need to thrive in a fast-paced and digital world.
