Apple and Google lobbyists are engaged in a “massive effort” to press state lawmakers to adopt kids’ online safety laws that would shield the tech giants from some lawsuits tied to age-verification requirements, according to POLITICO.
The scale and scope of the push, which has not been previously reported, is outlined in draft legislation, internal emails and interviews with seven unnamed “people with knowledge of the effort,” the article adds.
“What they’re putting out there are basically phantom child safety legislation bills that have no real teeth,” one child safety advocate involved in the discussions told POLITICO about Apple and Google.
In the states, the tech giants are running headlong into a competing lobbying effort by Meta, which is urging lawmakers to support legislation that would require app stores, rather than platforms, verify users’ ages to ensure minors do not see age-inappropriate content online.
As POLITICO notes, the larger fight centers on the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA), which would require app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps or make purchases and assume substantial legal liability.
As versions of the ASAA were introduced in state legislatures in Georgia, Arizona and Kansas earlier this year, lobbyists representing Apple and Google pitched an alternative bill text to lawmakers that would bar private lawsuits and leave enforcement to state attorneys general, adds POLITICO.
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