New Utah law makes app stores responsible for age verification

Meta, X, and Snap are celebrating a new Utah law that will require Apple and Google to take responsibility for verifying users’ ages on their app stores and obtain parental consent for minors. The tech giants have been battling to determine which party should be responsible for age verification on the app stores. Companies like Meta believe the app stores themselves should verify users’ ages because these entities host and distribute the apps. The app stores, however, argue that companies making the apps should bear the responsibility as they’re the ones offering the product to end users. Utah isn’t the only state considering some such legislation around age verification; it is the first to enact a law of this kind. The App Store Accountability Act, as the new law is called, was passed by Utah’s legislature earlier this month, then headed to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk for a signature to make it official. Ahead of the law’s passing, Apple announced a new set of child safety initiatives ... Read full article.