{"id":9744,"date":"2025-03-13T00:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T00:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/google-opposes-utahs-app-store-age-bill\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T00:34:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T00:34:02","slug":"google-opposes-utahs-app-store-age-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/google-opposes-utahs-app-store-age-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Google opposes Utah’s app store age bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n
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Google is pushing back against a bill that would make Utah the first state in the US to have a law requiring app stores to conduct age verification of their users. The company has formally requested the state’s governor to veto the bill, which was passed by the state legislature last week<\/a>, as it urges states to consider a different approach to app safety.<\/p>\n

In a blog post <\/a>from Google public policy director Kareem Ghanem, the company stated that the Utah law poses \u201creal privacy and safety risks\u201d and that states should not rush to pass laws \u201cpushed by Meta\u201d and other social media companies. Instead, Ghanem says that Google has proposed an \u201calternative legislative framework\u201d that would allow the developers of potentially \u201crisky\u201d apps to request \u201cage signals\u201d from app store owners like Google.<\/p>\n

The statement marks the first time Google has publicly opposed the bill, which would make Apple and Google responsible for age verification and parental permission features for children under 18. A spokesperson also confirmed that the company requested that Utah Governor Spencer Cox veto the bill. Cox has previously signed off<\/a> on laws that imposed age verification and parental permission requirements on social media companies, though the measures were revised and later blocked by a judge. A spokesperson for Cox didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not surprising that Google is opposing the law and others like it (there are at least eight other states considering similar measures), it\u2019s notable that the company is proposing its own parameters for a law that would take into account what kind of content is available in a given app, which would place more of a burden on social media companies.<\/p>\n

Ghanem argues that not all apps should be subject to age verification. \u201cThis level of data sharing isn\u2019t necessary \u2014 a weather app doesn\u2019t need to know if a user is a kid,\u201d he writes. \u201cBy contrast, a social media app does need to make significant decisions about age-appropriate content and features.\u201d He also argues that app store safety proposals should come with a ban on all personalized ads to anyone under 18, pointedly noting that “other companies” should follow Google’s lead on the issue.<\/p>\n

Google obviously has a vested interest in not being responsible for age verification of its users, which would impose significant logistical and legal risks for the company. However, many other privacy and digital rights groups have also opposed age verification laws<\/a>, citing concerns about their effectiveness and potential consequences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google is pushing back against a bill that would make Utah the first state in the US to have a law requiring app stores to conduct age verification of their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[64,103,63],"class_list":["post-9744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-gear","tag-google","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/21d34420-8cce-11ef-bcf7-c0f0b26c9a61.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}