Arizona lawmakers are considering a measure to require age verification for people to download content and make purchases from app stores.

House Bill 2920, the App Store Accountability Act, is designed to keep kids safe online. It would require app stores to verify account holders’ ages and get parental consent for minors to download apps and make purchases. Critics said the measure misses the mark.

Terence Samuel, CEO and executive director of the advocacy group Connect and Protect, said verifying someone’s age to download an app would not keep children away from harmful content.

“Someone has compared it to checking ID at the mall parking lot instead of at the liquor store counter, if the liquor store’s in the mall,” Samuel explained.

Samuel argued the measure would require increased data collection and infringe on privacy rights. The bill awaits action in a House committee.

Samuel pointed out the bill would allow app developers to pass the responsibility on to consumers to verify their ages. The requirement would apply to every app, which Samuel added could become burdensome for users no matter what they are trying to download.

“An app for sports, or an app for weather, or an app for your school system, church service. If you have to age verify at the app store level, it means everybody needs to do it, and it doesn’t really solve the problem of protecting kids from harmful stuff on the internet,” Samuel contended.

States introducing similar legislation have put age verification responsibility on individual app owners, such as TikTok or Instagram. The Arizona bill would move the responsibility to the app stores themselves.

Source: Public News Service