Utah becomes the first state to pass an app store age verification bill

is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform. Utah became the first state in the country to pass legislation requiring app store operators to verify users’ ages and require parental consent for minors to download apps. The App Store Accountability Act is the latest kids online safety bill to head to head to the governors’ desk, as states across the country and the federal legislature have tried to impose a variety of design regulations and age gating requirements to protect minors from online harms. Much of the legislation that has advanced through the states has been blocked in the courts, and the leading bill in Congress failed to pass last year amid concerns that it could limit free expression on the internet. Putting the onus on mobile app store operators to verify ages — rather than individual website provider ... Read full article.