Utah on Wednesday asked App Store operators such as Apple and Google to confirm the age of users before allowing the download.
Utah's law, known as the App Store Accountability Act, also requires app stores to obtain the consent of minors' parents prior to downloading.
The measure faces intense scrutiny from policymakers, including Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, SNAP and Google-owned YouTube, and other app store operators and social media companies, to protect children from harmful content.
In a rare step, Meta, Snap, X issued a joint statement praising Utah's law.
The statement highlights the gap between App Store operators and social media companies, claiming that each is a good fit to tackle age verification.
“Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child's age and grant permission to download apps in a way that provides privacy. The App Store is the perfect place for that,” the company said in a statement. “We praise Utah for inspiring parents to take on that groundbreaking law and urged Congress to follow the lawsuit.”
Representatives from Apple and Google did not immediately return requests for comment on the post.
Chamber of Progress, a large-scale technology-funded policy group representing the interests of Apple, Google and many other companies, said in a blog post that Utah laws “set dangerous precedents.”
“The bill aims to protect minors from inappropriate content, but ultimately imposes drastic restrictions on all Yutane's right to free speech,” the blog post states.
The bill is now heading to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's desk for final approval. If signed, the law will take effect on May 7th.
Apple previously criticized the requirements for age verification at the App Store level in its most online safety reports.
“While only a small portion of the App Store apps may require age verification, all users will need to hand over sensitive, personally identifiable information, whether they actually want to use one of these limited sets of apps,” the company said.
Apart from Utah, at least eight states have introduced similar bills related to age verification.
The bill represents another headache for Google and Apple, each facing a major Justice Department anti-trust lawsuit that could overturn its business model.
Other states are responsible for social media companies. Last June, New York State lawmakers passed a law requiring businesses to verify their users' age and obtain parental consent before allowing minor users to access the algorithm feed.
As a post from the time reported, Google and Meta led a massive lobbying effort to kill or undermine its New York bill.
With post wire
