Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Texas is on the verge of enacting an age verification law as online protections for kids face an uphill climb in Congress.
Why it matters: States aren't waiting around for a federal standard to protect kids online, and age verification bills are advancing all over the country.
- But opponents say some of the bills would have unintended consequences, leading to invasive data sharing with millions of individual apps and failing to hold social media companies accountable.
Zoom in: SB 2420, which was sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on May 15, would require app stores to verify users' ages, affiliate minors' accounts with a parent's account and obtain parental consent for each app download or purchase.
What they're saying: Google says it should be a shared responsibility to protect kids online, pointing to its legislative framework.
- "What we want to see in the legislation is a more balanced approach, where you've actually got skin in the game for [Mark] Zuckerberg and the social media companies," Google public policy director Kareem Ghanem said.
- "In some of the bills it's very clearly a cynical attempt by social media to put all of the responsibility onto app stores without stepping up at all in terms of how they're keeping kids safe," Ghanem added.
Apple's approach has been to roll out its own age verification tool that it says preserves privacy. It also recently endorsed the Kids Online Safety Act — a bill that would not put the responsibility squarely on app stores.
- "We share the goal of strengthening kids' online safety but are deeply concerned that SB2420 threatens the privacy of all users," an Apple spokesperson said. "We believe there are better proposals that help keep kids safe without requiring millions of people to turn over their personal information."
- Zuckerberg has said he thinks the responsibility to verify age should be with the app stores and Meta, along with Snap and X, are backing the App Store Accountability Act.
Zoom out: On Capitol Hill, key lawmakers are taking an all-of-the-above approach, but differences with KOSA persist.
- The Energy and Commerce Committee remains focused on KOSA, the App Store Accountability Act, Sammy's Law and COPPA 2.0, a GOP committee staffer said.
- The House is still working on ensuring KOSA holds up against free speech concerns, the staffer said.
- House lawmakers want to avoid what happened with the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, which was partially blocked by an appeals court over constitutional issues, the staffer said.
In the Senate, KOSA was recently reintroduced with changes that bill sponsors believe will address speech concerns.
- A Senate GOP staffer said the answer isn't to have app stores do it all: "Every part of this ecosystem bears some level of responsibility."
- KOSA has a provision to require a study on the technical feasibility of age verification at the device level.
The bottom line: Hill fights over bill text have repeatedly bogged down kids online safety measures.
- But as state action and a desire to hold Big Tech accountable in Washington intensifies, the best case scenario for companies and consumers may be to secure a federal solution that preempts a patchwork of regulations.
This story has been updated to add a statement from Apple.
