Ohio lawmakers introduce competing proposal for online age verification

Ohio lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are concerned about protecting minors on the internet, but how exactly to handle age verification has been a bit of challenge. Now, legislators are offering competing visions for determining an internet users’ age.

One of those visions, backed by social media companies like Facebook parent company Meta, would put the onus squarely on app stores. Another, introduced last week, shares responsibility between the app stores and app developers.

A complicated system added to the 2023 state budget was summarily rejected by federal courts earlier this year.

“A Balanced and Practical Framework”

The newest proposal, House Bill 302, is sponsored by state Reps. Heidi Workman, R-Rootstown, and Phil Plummer, R-Dayton. They describe the proposal as a way to split duties between the companies building apps and the ones providing access to those apps.

An app store would act as a kind of dashboard, providing a central location for parental controls, and delivering an “age signal” to developers so they can determine what user experience is appropriate.

“These duties reflect what app stores are uniquely positioned to do,” Workman said, “provide infrastructure, support consistency and enable parental oversight in a scalable, privacy-conscious way.”

But the work doesn’t end there.

“App developers who understand the intricacies of their own platforms are responsible for implementing practical protections tailored to the risks present in their apps,” she said.

Plummer said their approach ensures developers get no more information than is necessary. The bill also contains safeguards against developers sharing that age information or leveraging children’s data for targeted ads.

Plummer said H.B. 302 is “structured to provide meaningful protections where they’re needed, without overreaching into areas where they are not.”

He also said the measure is flexible enough to respond as technology grows and changes.

Part of that flexibility, however, comes from seemingly vague standards and requirements in the bill’s language. Apps are only “covered” if they offer different experiences for adults and minors. Initial determinations about a user’s age come down to an estimate, the nature of which is unclear.

Companies “may use” tools that are “commercially reasonable” to estimate a user’s age category “with a reasonable level of certainty proportionate to the risks that arise from access to and use of the relevant service or portion thereof,” according to the bill’s language.

Users who are estimated to be a minor can verify their age. The bill doesn’t describe how they do so.

It’s a notable departure from Ohio’s first stab at age verification, known as the Social Media Parental Notification Act. That measure tried to pre-determine every sort of website where adult content might be available, while drafting exceptions for news or commerce sites.

When he put that law on hold, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley called it a “breathtakingly blunt instrument.” Marbley permanently enjoined the measure last April.

Alternative Vision

Running parallel to Workman and Plummer’s proposal is a competing measure sponsored by state Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland, and state Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester.

Miller and Reynolds want to put the responsibility for age verification and parental consent on the app store. Meta strongly supports the legislation.

Jennifer Hanley, who heads up North American safety policy for the company told Ohio lawmakers understanding a user’s age is “fundamental” to providing age-appropriate content, but insisted that responsibility shouldn’t fall on her company.

“We think the easiest, most consistent, and most privacy-protective solution is to require app stores to verify age and get a parent’s approval any time a teen wants to download an app,” Hanley said.

The method compares to a person buying a six-pack of Budweiser at a store – they show their ID to the cashier, not to the beer company. If app stores are a one-stop-shop for all the games, messaging and social media services a person will download, the app store, not the app company, would determine the age.

But companies who operate app stores, most notably Apple and Google, are uncomfortable with carrying that much responsibility.

As Plummer put it, “app stores can provide consistent tools (and) centralized access points, but they should not be forced to manage risk they cannot fully access.”

Speaking after the hearing introducing the bill, Workman acknowledged they’ve been working with app store companies to develop their legislation.

She said they wanted to “bring all stakeholders to the table.”

Workman said those companies believe the proposal offers a workable solution, but no other state has actually implemented the provisions.

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