Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed on Tuesday Bill law demanding that Apple’s Google and alphabet verify the age of their application store users, placing the second largest state at the center of a debate if and how to regulate the use of smartphones by children and technology.
Law, effective on January 1, requires parental consent to download applications or do within app
Another -Texas law, approved in the Texas House of Representatives and waiting for a Senate vote, would limit social media applications for users over 18 years old.
Age boundaries and parental consent to social media applications are one of the few areas of broad US broad consensus, with a Pew research survey in 2023 finding that 81% of American support requires parents’ consent to create social media accounts and 71% support social media verification.
The effect of social media on children’s mental health has become a growing global concern, with dozens of states suing Meta Platform and the US general surgeon issuing advice on child protection measures. Australia last year banned social media for children under 16, with other countries like Norway also taking into account new rules.
How to implement age restrictions has caused a conflict between Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Apple and Google, who own the two prevailing American app stores.
Meta General Director Mark Zuckerberg said last year during a hearing in the Senate that he believed parents should not “have to charge an ID or test that they are a parent in every single app they use their children.
Meta refused to comment on this story.
Internet security groups of children who support the draft law in Texas have long argued for verifying application stores, saying it is the only way to give parents effective control over the use of technology children.
“The problem is that self-regulation in the digital market has failed, where application stores have just given priority in profit on safety and rights of children and families,” Reuters Casey Stefanski, Executive Director of the Digital Childhood Alliance, told Reuters.
Apple and Google opposed the Texas draft law, saying it imposes blanket requirements to share data with all apps, even when applications are uncomfortable.
“If approved, app market sites will be required to collect and maintain sensitive personal login information to anyone who wants to download an app even if it is an app
Google and Apple each have their own proposals involving age data sharing only with applications that require them than all apps.
“We see a role for legislation here,” said Kareem Ghanem, senior director of government affairs and public policy on Google, Reuters told Reuters. “Once it has to be done properly, and it should keep Zuckerberg’s feet and social media companies on fire because they are the damage to children and adolescents on those sites that really inspire people to get one closer.”
#Texas #state #implement #age #verification #Apple #Google #App #Storys
Image Source : nypost.com