App Store Accountability Act aims to put parents back in the driver’s seat

Families with young children face a daunting challenge: navigating app stores controlled by large companies that place profit over safety. The lack of age verification, privacy protections, and simplified parental tools puts children at serious risk. Fortunately, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. John James (R-Mich.) are working to keep kids safe online.

Although the Senate and House versions differ slightly, the App Store Accountability Act includes vital reforms. The measure would require app stores to securely verify users’ ages, mandate parental approval for new downloads, and increase parents’ access to accurate app-specific information. These features would help families understand and control access to apps that jeopardize children’s digital health.

The bill does not prohibit any form of speech. It merely establishes guardrails such as requiring age verification.

Ensuring that this system works requires accountability from the companies that own major app stores. Currently, Google and Apple operate their platforms with minimal oversight, making and arbitrarily enforcing rules for maximum profit. In the absence of accountability, these digital giants leave families and children vulnerable to toxic and disturbing content.

Crucially, the bills include provisions for holding violators responsible through private rights of action (Senate) or by enforcing Federal Trade Commission laws on unfair and deceptive practices (House), each with corresponding penalties. Companies could no longer hide behind opaque app store systems that distribute malicious or poorly vetted apps, exposing children to explicit, violent, or otherwise harmful material. This legislation would protect children and hold violators liable.

Opponents of the measure misleadingly claim these common-sense protections violate the First Amendment. As the executive director of the ACLJ and a strong supporter of free speech rights, I take the First Amendment seriously and advocate for its proper interpretation. Generally, the Constitution protects free speech, but it recognizes long-standing exceptions.

The Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity lacks constitutional protection, and certain sexually explicit content can be deemed obscene for minors. In Ginsberg v. New York, the court upheld a state law restricting the distribution of offensive material to young people. Supreme Court jurisprudence is clear: Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, and minors warrant special protection from sexually inappropriate content.

Yet, to be clear, the App Store Accountability Act does not prohibit any form of speech. It merely establishes guardrails such as requiring age verification for app stores to protect young people from inappropriate and harmful content. Far from censoring specific content, this proposal empowers parents to have better tools to make their own decisions about what apps are appropriate for their children.

Further, the burden on companies that oversee app stores would be minimal; the data needed to verify user ages is already in their possession. Apple and Google both offer parental approval controls if parents decide to turn this feature on. Lee and James’ bill would simply make this optional feature required, taking the burden off parents to navigate a vast web of optional parental consent tools.

In the modern online age, children spend significant time online. Parents deserve to be given streamlined tools to ensure that the content their children access is safe, transparent, and protective of their well-being.

Congress should pass the App Store Accountability Act to provide families with the key tools and information necessary to protect their children’s access to online enrichment while keeping them safe from unseen dangers. Our children’s online welfare and safety depend on it.