Mandated Age Verification: The Disastrous Year-End Push

Just in time for Christmas, certain members of Congress are hard at work in their policy shops, fashioning a massive lump of cybersecurity coal with which to gift American users of electronic devices. This isn’t so surprising. The end of the year is always a time when legislators try to push their pet projects and legislation past the finish line. Bad policy is often smuggled into law in must-pass omnibus packages.

On December 11, Representative John James (R., Mich.) introduced the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). The bill would, among other things, require app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors. The ASAA may be the final age-verification bill of the 118th Congress, but it is by no means the first. Similar measures have been proposed in the House and the Senate.

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David Williams

David Williams is the president of Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

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Just in time for Christmas, certain members of Congress are hard at work in their policy shops, fashioning a massive lump of cybersecurity coal with which to gift American users of electronic devices. This isn’t so surprising. The end of the year is always a time when legislators try to push their pet projects and legislation past the finish line. Bad policy is often smuggled into law in must-pass omnibus packages.

On December 11, Representative John James (R., Mich.) introduced the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). The bill would, among other things, require app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors. The ASAA may be the final age-verification bill of the 118th Congress, but it is by no means the first. Similar measures have been proposed in the House and the Senate.