Utah’s Age Verification Law – Potential to be First for the Nation

Earlier this month, Utah’s legislature passed SB 142, the App Store Accountability Act (the “Act”), which requires app stores to impose age verification measures on app downloads.  The Act, which as of publication of this article is currently awaiting Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature, pits social media companies against app store providers, such as Google and Apple, in a fight over the responsibility for verifying ages.

Under the Act, app store providers shall “at the time an individual who is located in the state creates an account with the app store provider, request age information from the individual; and verify the individual’s age category using: (A) commercially available methods that are reasonably designed to ensure accuracy; or (B) an age verification method or process that complies with rules made by the division under Section 13-75-301.”  If a minor tries to open an account, the app store will direct them to link the account to their parent’s account.

X, Snap, and Meta released a joint statement following passage of the Act by the legislature, promoting the “one-stop shop” appeal of the Utah law: “The app store is the best place for it, and more than a quarter of states have introduced bills recognizing the central role app stores play. We applaud Utah for putting parents in charge with its landmark legislation and urge Congress to follow suit.”

Instagram has also promoted the app store age verification laws by placing ads with various news sites:

Google and Apple have lobbied against passage of any legislation that puts the onus of verification on the app store providers.  In a recent blog post, Google’s Director of Public Policy argued that Governor Cox should look beyond the legislation, citing privacy and safety risks associated with sharing children’s age information with all developers, as required under the Act:

“One example of concerning legislation is Utah’s App Store Accountability Act. The bill requires app stores to share if a user is a kid or teenager with all app developers (effectively millions of individual companies) without parental consent or rules on how the information is used. That raises real privacy and safety risks, like the potential for bad actors to sell the data or use it for other nefarious purposes.”

The debate over age verification legislation is not limited to Utah.  Similar legislation has been introduced in multiple other states, including Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.  The introduction of these bills shows a trend of states looking to address online safety concerns for minors.