A Utah senator known for his efforts to protect kids from pornography has drafted a bill for the 2025 legislative session that would require app stores to verify a user’s age before they can download an app.
Sen. Todd Weiler’s (R) App Store Accountability Act is the latest example of state lawmakers seeking to force Apple and Google, operators of the two largest app stores, to take responsibility for youth access, an idea that Meta has been pushing in state legislatures and Congress.
“This bill will ensure that app stores verify parental consent before minors can download apps, agree to terms of services and make in-app purchases,” said Weiler, who in 2023 passed a law requiring sites like Pornhub to verify the age of users. Weiler also passed a resolution in 2016 declaring pornography a public health hazard.
Other states are likely to see similar legislation, despite the Meta-backed effort’s setback in Louisiana this year after fierce lobbying by Apple. They include South Carolina, where Rep. Brandon Guffey (R) pre-filed app store age verification legislation, and South Dakota.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Google spokesperson declined to comment, but referred Pluribus News to a recent blog post highlighting ways that Google is helping app developers provide users an age-appropriate experience, including by beta-testing “Digital IDs” that allow developers to verify a user’s age.
Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has argued that verifying user age on an app-by-app basis is cumbersome for parents and risks data privacy. By contrast, the company pitches app store age verification as a one-stop solution that is more privacy protective.
Both Weiler and Guffey said they have not discussed their legislation directly with Meta.
Guffey is suing Instagram and Meta for damages related to the 2022 suicide of his 17-year-old son Gavin, who was a sextortion victim. In addition to the app store bill, he has pre-filed several measures for the 2025 legislative session to address youth online safety.
“My goal is to attack it from every angle to try to get some accountability,” Guffey said of his legal and legislative efforts. “I know I have a harsher view than most, being someone who’s lost a child.”
Weiler said he is working with a concerned Utah mother who has previously assisted his efforts to address youth access to pornography, including a law passed earlier this year to require device makers to enable explicit content filters by default for minor users.
Multiple states have passed laws requiring social media sites to obtain parental permission for teenagers to access their platforms. NetChoice, a tech industry trade group, has challenged most of those laws, and courts have subsequently blocked them on First Amendment grounds.
NetChoice also opposes app store age verification requirements. Amy Bos, NetChoice’s director of state and federal affairs, wrote in an October letter to South Dakota legislators: “If enacted, such proposals would almost assuredly violate South Dakotans’ First Amendment rights, weaken their privacy, and fail to keep kids safe online.”
The co-chairs of a South Dakota legislative study committee on the regulation of internet access by minors did not respond to a request from Pluribus News for an update on its app store legislation.
Weiler, an attorney, defended app store age-gating as striking a balance between safety and privacy. He said his goal is to “restore parental authority” and protect kids from harmful content.
“We’re targeting app stores, not free speech … not content regulation,” Weiler said.
Under Wieler’s draft bill, which has not been formally filed but Pluribus News has reviewed, app stores would have to use a “commercially available” method to determine each user’s age.
Minors would then have to get a parent’s permission to download or buy an app or make an in-app purchase. The app stores would also have to “display clearly and prominently” each app’s age rating and content description.
App stores would also be required to send a signal to app developers about the user age range, the status of parental consent for a minor, and other mandates.
The proposed law would also place obligations on app developers. For instance, they would have to provide an age rating and content description of their product.
Developers would also be obligated to give parents the ability to track how much time their child spends on the app and allow them to set time limits.
The law would be enforced by Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection with fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Parents could sue on behalf of their child for alleged harms caused by an intentional violation of the law. If passed, the law would take effect on May 7, 2026.