When Protecting Kids Online, Don't Let Apple and Google Off the Hook

In the last year, Utah, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas passed landmark laws mandating age verification and parental consent for minors to access social media. We have worked with many state legislators to draft principles for this legislation. With America's youth caught in social media addiction and internet-mediated experiences influencing every part of their lives, parents need tools to control who is talking to and influencing their kids in order to raise them. In response, some Big Tech companies have either lobbied against the bills or tried to carve out exceptions for themselves.

Because of the constitutional, privacy, and practical concerns in having users age verified by tech platforms, we also have argued that legislatures should ensure that "age verification...be both effective and capable of preserving user privacy." Requiring users to give social media companies more personal information is akin to putting the wolves in charge of the chicken coop. Additionally, online anonymity would be threatened. This is why we have recommended that verification be conducted by a third party in a two-step authentication process, or even more securely by a third party using cryptographic methods like zero-knowledge proofs.