Gone are the days of parents telling children not to take candy from strangers. Nowadays, the risks our youth face are right in the palms of their hands — on their screens. Extending the same principles of parental oversight that govern real-world activities into the virtual realm is more important now than ever.
For their part, some app developers have each launched initiatives to improve teenagers well-being on their platforms. State governments have also taken legislative and regulatory measures to tackle the issue. Yet, apps and states, each taking their own approaches, are not a workable solution to ensure the online well-being of our youth.
Parents need one national age-appropriate standard for apps that is easy to understand. These standards, which should be set by the federal government, are imperative to establish a robust and uniform system to ensure teenagers’ well-being on apps. A patchwork approach, where different states enforce varying laws, with some, but not all, states requiring age verification, would only lead to confusion.
Congress can begin advancing these common-sense policy approaches during Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where they will hear from the CEOs of several of the largest social media companies and have the opportunity to learn more and explore the idea of parental consent.
The cornerstone of any potential federal legislation should be increased parental involvement. Congress should consider creating app store age rating standards akin to movie ratings. Determining what movies your child can attend is easier because of national movie rating standards. Parents can easily survey the movie ratings and determine that a minor cannot attend an R-rated movie. The same should apply when looking at a more mobile screen.
Federal regulations should also require parental consent at the app store level for users under 16 years old, with the app store notifying parents when their teenager wishes to download an app, placing the decision-making power in the hands of parents.
These national standards would provide a one-stop shop within the app store where parents can consent to the app use of their youth under 16. Requiring parental verification of a teenager’s age and sign-off on app download at the app store level simplifies the convoluted landscape of navigating different apps, each with its own set of policies and data security measures. An app store-based solution would streamline parents’ oversight of their teenagers’ online activities and ensure that even with the introduction of new apps popular with youth, they will have an age-appropriate experience with apps.
Congress could take things one step further and set federal standards for parental supervision tools for users under 16. Parents should have the ability to activate, and control features such as setting daily time limits, monitoring their teensager’ followers, and more. This empowers parents and ensures age-appropriate experiences on social media.
Not only would this be common sense policy, but standards such as these are also broadly supported by the American public. A recent Pew survey found that 81% of adults in this country across political affiliations support “social media companies requiring parental consent for minors to create a social media account.” In fact, policy experts from both the Left and the Right have lauded a federal approach to parental age verification and consent for app downloads.
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The benefits of a federal standard for app ratings and parental approval for download also extend beyond those relating to teenagers’ well-being. App stores requiring parental age verification would also limit the amount of data (e.g., related to age) that any one app collects. Further, such policies would also allow app developers to implement age-gated defaults and offer age-appropriate content, bringing the app space in line with other industries, such as entertainment.
In sum, federal legislation would create a cohesive framework and set clear standards that apply uniformly across the nation and across platforms. This approach would empower parents as much as it would improve the well-being of teenagers, all while ensuring that industry stakeholders have clear and consistent guidelines. Any such federal standards would go beyond mere convenience — they would go a long way in protecting the most vulnerable among us.
Jerry Kilgore served as the attorney general of Virginia from 2002 to 2005.
