Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced several bills, three of which were related to youth online safety. The bills in question take a kitchen sink approach and combine previously considered social media and internet regulatory measures together. While the nuts and bolts differ between pieces of legislation, a trend is evident: supplanting user privacy and parental rights and responsibility with expansive government mandates. 

The proposed App Store Accountability Act (ASAA) is hardly a new player. The ASAA would require app stores to verify every user’s age and share that information with app developers. By creating a massive online database of sensitive information, the ASAA singlehandedly risks the privacy of millions. Beyond the privacy risks, the premise of the ASAA is flawed. Users cannot access the Constitutionally protected free speech displayed on the internet unless they submit information about themselves, even that which they may not be comfortable submitting. This is hardly a new revelation; last year a federal judge ruled that a Texas version of the ASAA was faulty on Constitutional grounds and blocked it from taking effect. Legal scholars have speculated that such a sweeping regulation could create new norms—for instance, uploading a government ID for any app downloads.

Also considered on Thursday, the proposed KIDS Act ties multiple pieces of legislation together to create a Frankenstein bill. Notably, the KIDS Act contains the previously attempted Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). In the years following its introduction, KOSA has faced repeated challenges on the grounds of its unconstitutionality and unworkability. KOSA focuses its regulations on social media platforms and relies on a false promise that the government is best suited to identify who sees what content and when they can see it. Like the ASAA, KOSA would require age verification in order to access speech protected by the First Amendment. KOSA also speaks to the content found on social media sites, effectively creating a censorship regime through overly vague language and restrictive protocols.

Other than creating broad restrictions that fundamentally change the modern experience of the internet and free speech as we know it while also creating a trove of sensitive data ripe for the hacking, both the ASAA and the KIDS Act (particularly the KOSA aspect) have tried and failed before. The ASAA has been attempted on the state level and was blocked as recently as December of last year. Versions of KOSA have faced ongoing litigation and obstacles on the state level, and the federal version has been amended and reintroduced every year following its 2022 debut. More generally, age verification regimes have been attempted repeatedly around the world with little success.

In a timely statement just one day before the markup in the House Committee, computer scientists issued a warning in Reason Magazine. Age verification requirements “might cause more harm than good” because “vowing to help kids isn’t the same thing as writing coherent legislation.” Many questions remain following last Thursday’s hearing, and the vigorous debate indicates that the bills will likely take several different forms over the coming weeks and months. Despite the unknowns, the history of the App Store Accountability Act, KOSA, and other similar efforts makes certain that privacy risks, Constitutional shortcomings, and lengthy legal battles will follow.

 

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Kids Online Safety ActConstitutionFirst Amendment to the United States ConstitutionOnline age verification in the United KingdomTexasReasonFreedom of speech
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