App Store Accountability Act: Addressing the Chokepoints for Online Child Exploitation
Picture this:
Your 10-year-old daughter approaches you asking to download social media. Despite her pleas, you decline, telling her she’s too young. The age limit listed on the Apple App Store for most social media apps is 13.
That still doesn’t seem old enough, but you decide you won’t even consider it until she’s at least 13 years old.
“Ask me again on your 13th birthday,” you tell her.
A few months later, your daughter comes running down the stairs in tears. “What’s going on?” you ask.
Reluctantly, she tells you she downloaded Instagram without your permission and something bad has happened: A strange man had messaged her, pretending to be a boy her age. The man coerced her into sending sexually explicit images and was now demanding money or he would publish these images online. Your heart sinks.
Confused your mind is racing: The age limit is 13. How was she able to download it without my permission?
Unfortunately, this could happen to any parent because app stores do not currently have robust methods in place for verifying the age of users who are downloading their apps. And once they download the app, in most cases, the apps themselves do not require age verification beyond entering your birthday, which a child can easily fudge.
The App Store Accountability Act seeks to solve this problem!
