For more than a decade, two companies have controlled nearly everything about how Americans use their smartphones. Apple and Google decide which apps are allowed, how developers may earn revenue, what tools parents can use to supervise their children online, and even which safety features third parties are permitted to offer.
Their authority is so sweeping that the House Judiciary Committee’s bipartisan, landmark 2020 investigation concluded Apple and Google operate as de facto “gatekeepers” for mobile software distribution.
Congress now has a rare opportunity to change that. Two bills, the App Store Freedom Act and the App Store Accountability Act, would finally unwind the duopoly’s grip while establishing long-overdue protections for children in the digital marketplace. Each bill is valuable on its own. But the strongest case is for passing both together. Competition and safety are not in conflict. They go hand in hand. These complementary reforms work best in tandem.
CHILD SAFETY ONLINE IS A BIPARTISAN ISSUE FOR A REASON
The ASFA, a bill introduced by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), tackles the structural problem at the heart of the mobile ecosystem: Apple and Google’s monopoly over app distribution. The ASFA would allow Americans to install apps from alternative sources, use third-party app stores, delete pre-installed apps, and bypass the companies’ exclusive payment systems. These are exactly the practices that courts have recognized as evidence of market control, including in Epic Games v. Apple, where Apple’s tightly restricted distribution model was central to the dispute.
Developers also know this firsthand. The House Judiciary Committee’s investigation documented numerous examples of arbitrary app removals, discriminatory rules, and platforms using developer data to build copycat products. Nowhere was this more visible than in 2018–2019, when Apple quietly removed or crippled more than a dozen parental-control apps shortly after launching its own Screen Time feature. As the New York Times reported, these third-party tools were some of the most robust options available to parents. Until they suddenly disappeared.
Opening the ecosystem, however, is only half of the solution. The App Store Accountability Act addresses the second problem: the failure of platforms and developers alike to ensure minors are safe online.
Apple’s and Google’s age-rating systems are notoriously inconsistent. The Federal Trade Commission’s review of mobile apps found that app-store content disclosures were often “incomplete, vague, or misleading,” and the Digital Childhood Institute submitted a 55-page filing to the FTC detailing Apple’s deceptive safety claims. The Wall Street Journal found that Apple’s parental control settings failed to block content reliably.
ASAA would correct these failures. The bill requires app stores to verify users’ ages, obtain verifiable parental consent before minors download apps or make purchases, and provide parents with clear tools to block adult content or set daily usage limits. Developers, for the first time, would be required to supply accurate age ratings and integrate real-time age signals into their apps — a critical safeguard given research showing that children’s apps routinely collect personal data or misrepresent their content.
Some policymakers worry that passing both bills at once could create conflicting mandates. But the opposite is true.
If Congress passes ASFA alone, competition will increase, but safety in Apple and Google’s dominant ecosystems will not. Parents would gain more choices but no federal baseline for child protection.
If Congress passes ASAA alone, safety rules will exist, but only within a system still dominated by Apple and Google, two companies that have repeatedly underperformed in enforcing those very protections.
Passing both bills at the same time solves these problems cleanly. ASFA introduces the competition necessary for innovation in safety technologies, while ASAA establishes a nationwide safety floor that applies to app stores and developers. In an open market governed by clear rules, app stores will have to compete on child protection, leading to more accurate age ratings, better parental dashboards, and stronger privacy policies.
This dual-bill approach also aligns with what parents want. According to the Pew Research Center, most American parents already believe their children spend too much time on their devices, and many lack the tools they need to supervise online activity effectively. Congress can give families real control, not the illusion of it.
AI INTIMACY IS TURNING ABUSIVE. CONGRESS MUST ACT
It is rare to find two bills that complement each other so directly. The App Store Freedom Act and the App Store Accountability Act are each strong on their own, but together they offer a coherent vision that restores fairness for developers, empowers parents, and places the responsibility for child safety where it belongs: on the platforms and developers who profit from children’s attention.
Congress should reject the false choice between competition and safety. Americans deserve both. Passing ASFA and ASAA together is the better way forward.
Aiden Buzzetti is president of the Bull Moose Project.
