Utah governor signs online child safety law requiring Apple, Google to verify user ages

Utah’s App Store Accountability Act marks a groundbreaking shift as the nation’s first law of its kind, redefining online age verification by placing the burden on mobile app stores rather than individual apps. Under this legislation, Apple and Google are tasked with confirming user ages, relieving platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and X of that duty. The law’s passage in Utah also escalates an ongoing clash between Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and Apple, intensifying their rivalry over privacy and platform control.
Kif Leswing for CNBC:
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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Wednesday signed a bill that requires Apple and Google’s mobile app stores to verify user ages and require parental permission for those under 18 to use certain apps, the governor’s spokesperson told CNBC.
The App Store Accountability Act, or S.B. 142, could also kick off a wave of other states, including South Carolina and California, passing similar legislation. 
The law is designed to protect children, who may not understand apps’ terms of services and, therefore, can’t agree to them, said Todd Weiler, a Republican state senator and the bill’s sponsor.
“For the past decade or longer, Instagram has rated itself as friendly for 12 year olds,” Weiler said at a state senate committee hearing in January. “It’s not.”
Apple and Google will need to request age verification checks when someone makes a new account in the state. That will most likely have to be done using credit cards, according to Weiler. If someone under 18 opens an app store account, Apple or Google will have to link it to a parent’s account or request additional documentation. Parents will have to consent to in-app purchases.
Apple says it makes the most sense for apps themselves to do age verification, and that due to privacy reasons, it doesn’t want to collect the data needed for age verification.
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,” according to a paper Apple posted on its website last month.
The Utah law is slated to take effect on May 7, but it is expected to be challenged in a legal fight over its validity.

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MacDailyNews Note: Find out more about using parental controls on your child’s iPhone or iPad here.

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