Louisiana becomes third state to pass app store accountability law
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By
Chris Teale
It follows Texas and Utah in passing legislation this year to mandate that app stores identify when users are minors and require parental consent before they download apps.
Louisiana became the latest state to pass what it described as an “app store accountability” law, joining Texas and Utah in instituting such legislation.
Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill in late June mandating that app stores that operate in the state — including those run by Apple and Google — must identify when users are children and obtain parental consent before apps can be downloaded. The Louisiana law, which passed both chambers of its legislature with no opposition, also requires that app stores have accurate age ratings on apps and prevents them from enforcing terms of service on minor users without parental consent.
A similar effort ran aground in Louisiana last year amid an aggressive lobbying push from Apple. Supporters said it will help protect children from inappropriate content available via app stores.
“This is a major step forward for families in Louisiana,” Casey Stefanski, executive director of the Digital Childhood Alliance, a conservative child advocacy group that supports the legislation in Louisiana and elsewhere, said in a statement. “Parents deserve real tools to protect their children online – and HB 570 helps get us closer to that goal.”
The effort to place more regulation on app stores has accelerated this year, as Texas and Utah both passed their own versions of the legislation within months of each other. Lawmakers who backed those laws said they are also about empowering parents and helping them keep their children safe.
“The App Store Accountability Act is about putting parents back in the driver’s seat regarding their children’s devices,” Texas Sen. Angela Paxton, who sponsored that state’s law, said in a statement after Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law. “Big Tech should not be deciding what’s appropriate for our kids – that’s the role of parents. SB 2420 gives parents the tools they need to protect their children and holds tech companies accountable when they fail to do their part.”
And it comes as states have taken a more leading role in protecting children from what lawmakers deem the harms of the internet. The Supreme Court ruled last month in favor of a Texas law requiring users of adult websites to verify their ages, with more than two dozen other states having similar laws in place, in a bid to protect minors from pornography and other inappropriate content.
Civil liberties experts have questioned whether laws such as these truly protect children, or are about restricting the content that anyone can view. Separately, many states have passed laws regulating social media platforms, which are designed to respond to the youth mental health crisis, while others have passed bans on cellphones in public schools.
Advocates for legislation like the App Store Accountability Act are unbowed — the Digital Childhood Alliance provides a model version of the bill for interested lawmakers and said it will not impact freedom of expression.
“[This] bill focuses on ensuring legal compliance and enforcing parental consent for minors entering contracts, specifically in app distribution, not speech,” the group wrote in an FAQ on its website. “It aligns with existing consumer protection regimes requiring parental consent for minors to agree to Terms of Service. It ensures age verification to obtain proper parental approval before minors enter binding agreements.”
And it inspired a national version. Rep. John James and Sen. Mike Lee, both Republicans, introduced the App Store Accountability Act in both houses of Congress in May. The bicameral pair said it would hold app stores responsible for providing age restricted material to minors in the same way that physical stores are when they provide age-restricted products like alcohol and tobacco to them.
“Kids cannot consent — and any company that exposes them to addictive or adult material should be held accountable,” James said in a statement. “The App Store Accountability Act holds Big Tech companies to the same standard as local corner stores. It safeguards the next generation by empowering parents and ensures that when it comes to protecting children, no one is above the law.”