{"id":28573,"date":"2025-05-27T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28573"},"modified":"2025-05-27T21:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T21:27:03","slug":"texas-requires-apple-and-google-to-verify-ages-for-app-downloads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28573","title":{"rendered":"Texas Requires Apple and Google to Verify Ages for App Downloads"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The state\u2019s governor signed a new law that will give parents more control over the apps that minors download, part of a raft of new legislation.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

The governor of Texas signed a bill on Tuesday requiring Apple and Google to verify the age of app store users, placing new burdens on the tech giants in a bid to give parents more control over the apps their children download.<\/p>\n

Texas is the largest of 20 states that have weighed similar child safety laws for smartphones. Utah became the first state to sign a bill, in March. California and Illinois are considering similar rules.<\/p>\n

The states have stepped in on an issue that has struggled to get traction in Washington. But this month, members of Congress reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which has broad bipartisan support and requires social media companies to curb harmful content that promotes suicide, eating disorders and bullying, and grants parents greater safety controls.<\/p>\n

State age-verification laws have pitted tech giants like Apple and Meta against one another over who should be responsible for restricting children\u2019s access to apps. Apple has argued that collecting age information would intrude on users\u2019 privacy and has favored its being done by individual apps. But social media companies such as Meta, Snap and X have pressed for Apple and Google, which manage smartphone operating systems, to become one-stop shops where parents verify their children\u2019s age and approve downloads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Regulating smartphone apps has gathered momentum in statehouses after last year\u2019s publication of the book \u201cThe Anxious Generation,\u201d by Jonathan Haidt<\/a>, a New York University business school professor who chalks up many of the challenges that teenagers face today to the rise of smartphones. Mr. Haidt has been supportive<\/a> of the legislative push.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely vital that we develop age verification methods for life online,\u201d Mr. Haidt said. \u201cParts of the internet are absolutely inappropriate for children, and Texas is pushing the companies that profit from kids to protect kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Mahaleris, a press secretary in the Texas governor\u2019s office, said Gov. Greg Abbott had signed the bill because \u201csafety and online privacy for Texas children remains a priority.\u201d He added, \u201cTexas will empower parents to have more control over the online content their children can access.\u201d<\/p>\n

The social media companies Meta, X and Snap applauded the bill, calling it an \u201cimportant step\u201d and urging Congress to pass similar legislation.<\/p>\n

Though Apple supports the goal of protecting children online, a spokesman, Peter Ajemian, said the company worried that Texas\u2019 new law \u201cthreatens the privacy of all users, as it requires app marketplaces to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it\u2019s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

A Google spokeswoman said the company was assessing its next steps. Before the bill was signed, the company\u2019s policy team told CBS in Austin that it was \u201cone of the most extreme age verification regimes that we\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cecilia Kang contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state\u2019s governor signed a new law that will give parents more control over the apps that minors download, part of a raft of new legislation.The governor of Texas signed a bill on Tuesday requiring Apple and Google to verify the age of app store users, placing new burdens on the tech giants in a bid to give parents more control over the apps their children download.Texas is the largest of 20 states that have weighed similar child safety laws for smartphones. Utah became the first state to sign a bill, in March. California and Illinois are considering similar rules.The states have stepped in on an issue that has struggled to get traction in Washington. But this month, members of Congress reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which has broad bipartisan support and requires social media companies to curb harmful content that promotes suicide, eating disorders and bullying, and grants parents greater safety controls.State age-verification laws have pitted tech giants like Apple and Meta against one another over who should be responsible for restricting children\u2019s access to apps. Apple has argued that collecting age information would intrude on users\u2019 privacy and has favored its being done by individual apps. But social media companies such as Meta, Snap and X have pressed for Apple and Google, which manage smartphone operating systems, to become one-stop shops where parents verify their children\u2019s age and approve downloads.Regulating smartphone apps has gathered momentum in statehouses after last year\u2019s publication of the book \u201cThe Anxious Generation,\u201d by Jonathan Haidt, a New York University business school professor who chalks up many of the challenges that teenagers face today to the rise of smartphones. Mr. Haidt has been supportive of the legislative push.\u201cIt is absolutely vital that we develop age verification methods for life online,\u201d Mr. Haidt said. \u201cParts of the internet are absolutely inappropriate for children, and Texas is pushing the companies that profit from kids to protect kids.\u201dAndrew Mahaleris, a press secretary in the Texas governor\u2019s office, said Gov. Greg Abbott had signed the bill because \u201csafety and online privacy for Texas children remains a priority.\u201d He added, \u201cTexas will empower parents to have more control over the online content their children can access.\u201dThe social media companies Meta, X and Snap applauded the bill, calling it an \u201cimportant step\u201d and urging Congress to pass similar legislation.Though Apple supports the goal of protecting children online, a spokesman, Peter Ajemian, said the company worried that Texas\u2019 new law \u201cthreatens the privacy of all users, as it requires app marketplaces to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it\u2019s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.\u201dA Google spokeswoman said the company was assessing its next steps. Before the bill was signed, the company\u2019s policy team told CBS in Austin that it was \u201cone of the most extreme age verification regimes that we\u2019ve seen.\u201dCecilia Kang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28575,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28576,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28573\/revisions\/28576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}