Ohio lawmakers have been debating two different versions of legislation requiring app stores, like the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, to establish age verification measures.
Meta is behind one version, House Bill 226 and Senate Bill 167, while Google is backing the other one, House Bill 302 and Senate Bill 175.
Earlier this year, a federal judge struck down a state law requiring parental permission for social media and gaming apps, so legislators have set their sights on regulating app stores rather than individual apps.
Under HB 226 and SB 167, if an app is “likely to be accessed by children,” app stores would have to obtain parental permission prior to letting Ohioans 16 years or younger download the app. Stores would carry the burden of verifying user ages through a user’s device.
Meta has testified in favor of each of those—as have interests ranging from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation to the Center for Christian Virtue to the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.
“Singling-out some but not all apps for age verification is unlikely to pass constitutional muster, as shown by the regulatory models being successfully challenged in courts, like the law recently enjoined in Ohio,” Meta Safety Policy Manager Jennifer Hanley testified Tuesday.
The App Association is a trade association for small to medium-sized app developers. President Morgan Reed said in an interview earlier this year he takes issue with the broadness the bills, which would require any app, social media or not, to abide by its regulations.
“It is so broad, so incredibly broad in its reach,” Reed said.
He, and others, see HB 302 and SB 175 as a more narrowly-tailored way of going about the issue. Among their differences, those bills define “covered” apps, or apps like social media that already have restrictions for minors.
“Meta wants to avoid the liability they find themselves under, and I think that’s something to not lose track of, because there are thoughtful ways to do this, even legislatively,” Reed said. “The shift in liability is the 800 lb. gorilla fight, right?”
Google is behind HB 302 and SB 175. None of the four bills have gotten a vote in committee yet, but one got a hearing last week and two got a hearing this week.
