Major tech companies are clashing over responsibility for children’s online safety, facing billions in fines as states swiftly enact conflicting laws mandating user age verification. The conflict has Meta Platforms and other app developers at odds with Apple and Alphabet subsidiary Google, the dominant app store operators.
Emily Birnbaum for Bloomberg News:
Lobbyists for both sides are moving from state to state, working to water down or redirect the legislation to minimize their clients’ risks.
This year alone, at least three states — Utah, Texas and Louisiana — passed legislation requiring tech companies to authenticate users’ ages, secure parental consent for anyone under 18 and ensure minors are protected from potentially harmful digital experiences. Now, lobbyists for all three companies are flooding into South Carolina and Ohio, the next possible states to consider such legislation.
Meta argues the app stores should be responsible for figuring out whether minors are accessing inappropriate content, comparing the app store to a liquor store that checks patrons’ IDs. Apple and Google, meanwhile, argue age verification laws violate children’s privacy and argue the individual apps are better-positioned to do age checks. Apple said it’s more accurate to describe the app store as a mall and Meta as the liquor store.
The three new state laws put the responsibility on app stores, signaling Meta’s arguments are gaining traction. The company lobbied in support of the Utah and Louisiana laws putting the onus on Apple and Google for tracking their users’ ages. Similar Meta-backed proposals have been introduced in 20 states. Federal legislation proposed by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah would hold the app stores accountable for verifying users’ ages.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple may be seeing which way the wind is blowing since, just today, the company expanded its App Store’s age rating system.
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Meta owned IG is the absolute worst offender when it comes to under age users soliciting adult content with additional links to external chat sites such as Telegram where additional adult content can be purchased.
Maybe Mark is onThe List?
Oh we all know what current sitting prez is on the list. He was a gold card carrying member of that club. But hey, pedos are just fine as long as they hand you a tax break that blows up the debt for them next generation.
If he was on the list, the left would release it no matter what the cost. Clearly, they’ve shown they’re willing to burn everything to the ground just to get at him. Get some help, you’re unwell.
I don’t get this logic at all. META user account is in no way tied to the user account on the App/Play Store. It doesn’t matter who installed the app, the user of the app can be someone else. And META has websites. You can access those with any browser on any device. Just use your META login on anyone’s phone, or on a shared PC in a home, library, hotel etc. If this legislation passes, the Internet Cafe will make a comeback (at least kids would get out of the home more, and save the Mall), and hobos will sell burner phones with META apps installed. The correct place to verify users of a service is on that service.
There needs to be federal legislation that acts as a benchmark for that all tech companies can follow. Instead there is a dog’s breakfast of state legislation.
In my country Australia, the tech companies are fighting federal legislation and they are being encouraged to oppose this legislation by the US government in the name of freedom of speech, and that’s just not on. This kind of freedom of speech is an obscenity to every parent and just puts children in danger.
I think they are both responsible to figure out the age restrictions. Yes, Apple sells devices and it’s up to the millions of apps to control their content to minors, but Apple is also a store that sells apps.
The goal is to keep kids safe and follow the age restricted media broadcast standards that have been in place for a long time.
Ultimately who is the problem here? As long as Apple provides the user’s age to Facebook, it’s up to Facebook to not show minors explicit content in any way.
Irrespective of Meta, there are a number of circumstances where items or services are age restricted. I would have thought that Apple would be well suited to devising some sort of age verification system linked to biometrics on iPhones.
Obviously there would initially be a requirement for a user to prove their age and it might require more than one type of input, but once that has been done, the user could use face recognition or fingerprint data to verify that they are over 18 or over 25 etc, as determined by what they are wanting to do.
Apple would devise a way to preserve the privacy of that user, while still confirming that the user’s age is appropriate for the service or goods they wish to access.
It could be used online or the verification shown in person at shops and bars.