Congress is ramping up action on online child-safety legislation. With two major age-verification bills recently marked up in subcommittee, lawmakers face an important choice about how to protect kids without overregulating the internet.
It’s critical that we keep kids safe online. But not all apps pose the same threat to kids. Some small software businesses, for instance, make apps that help people solve word puzzles and improve baseball skills. Benign apps, along with thousands of other educational, fitness and entertainment apps, clearly don’t warrant the same level of regulation that adult-oriented or risky social media apps do.
Smart online-safety legislation requires targeted rules that keep kids away from high-risk apps without overregulating harmless apps. That’s the approach taken by one of the bills under consideration, the Parents Over Platforms Act (POPA).
POPA would require safeguards for genuinely risky apps, such as those that enable interactions between minors and strangers, offer different experiences for minors and adults, or feature unmoderated user-generated material. It would largely spare developers of low-risk apps — such as educational tools and games, or platforms that don’t allow external communication — from costly compliance obligations. In short, POPA aims to keep kids away from problematic apps without overburdening developers of harmless apps intended for general audiences.
Unfortunately, a different, problematic bill — the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA) — seems to be gaining traction. Modeled on legislation recently passed in Louisiana, Texas and Utah, ASAA would require app stores to verify kids’ ages and obtain verified parental consent for every app a minor downloads, even if it’s for something innocuous like music lessons or math flashcards. That additional step means apps that pose no risk to kids will likely receive fewer downloads.
More worryingly, ASAA’s “one-size-fits-all” approach means app stores would send users’ age information to apps whenever they’re downloaded, creating significant new privacy risks. Small developers would have to receive, store and secure thousands of kids’ data. We aren’t equipped to handle that data, nor do we have the tens of thousands of dollars to make the technological upgrades necessary to do so. That means ASAA’s blanket age verification mandate could inadvertently lead to more data leaks and hacks.
ASAA would also saddle small developers with significant legal burdens. My team, for instance, would have to ensure we handle kids’ data in accordance with federal children’s privacy laws like COPPA. That could mean significant legal and consulting expenses that we simply can’t afford. Moreover, there’s no reliable online method for confirming whether a consent-giver is actually a parent or guardian, putting small developers in legal jeopardy.
I appreciate lawmakers’ efforts to prevent minors from accessing unsavory material, and I understand why lawmakers might think sweeping regulations are the best way to protect kids from dangerous apps. The United Kingdom’s recent experience with its Online Safety Act demonstrated how overly strict rules can backfire.
The OSA was so restrictive that thousands of users chose to skirt the law by downloading dubious virtual private networks where many became easy targets for spoofs and scams. ASAA risks repeating that mistake by tightly regulating app stores while allowing unrestricted access to web-based versions of the same high-risk content. This would encourage kids to bypass ASAA’s safeguards.
Congress should choose a smarter path. POPA would focus enforcement where it belongs — on platforms that actually pose risks to minors — while preserving privacy, innovation and parental choice. Applying the same heavy-handed rules to thousands of benign apps will stifle small businesses, limit kids’ access to helpful educational and recreational tools, and create new data-security vulnerabilities. A targeted approach to age assurance, like the one POPA offers, can protect America’s kids — and keep its small app developers thriving.