Latest news with #parentalconsent
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Spectrum: Teachers' retirement fund; Meta at the Statehouse; Ohio governor's race
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – This week on The Spectrum: Lawmakers are looking to make changes to the board for the State Teachers Retirement System. 'Our consultants get rich, our investors get rich, our STRS management get rich,' CEO of the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association Robin Rayfield said. 'The only people who don't get rich are the people who put the money in.' Hear from retirees on why they say it's nothing more than an attempt to strip away their power. A social media giant testifies at the Ohio Statehouse in support of a bill that would require parental consent for app downloads. 'This isn't really about tech companies,' Meta Head of Safety Policy for North America Jennifer Hanley said. 'It's about what parents want.' Hear from state leaders who said the proposal doesn't go far enough. Is the Republican primary for Ohio governor already over or is there still a way for another candidate, like Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, to jump in and take on frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy? Democratic strategist Brian Rothenberg and Republican strategist Will Hinman join the roundtable to weigh in. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Health
- Fast Company
New Texas law says Apple and Google must now verify ages of app store users
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed into law a bill requiring Apple and Alphabet's Google to verify the age of users of their app stores, putting the second-most-populous U.S. state at the center of a debate over whether and how to regulate smartphone use by children and teenagers. The law, effective on January 1, requires parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users aged below 18. Utah was the first U.S. state to pass a similar law earlier this year, and U.S. lawmakers have also introduced a federal bill. Another Texas bill, passed in the state's House of Representatives and awaiting a Senate vote, would restrict social media apps to users over 18. Age limits and parental consent for social media apps are among the few areas of wide U.S. consensus, with a Pew Research poll in 2023 finding that 81% of Americans support requiring parental consent for children to create social media accounts and 71% support age verification before using social media. The effect of social media on children's mental health has become a growing global concern, with dozens of U.S. states suing Meta Platforms and the U.S. Surgeon General issuing an advisory on safeguards for children. Australia last year banned social media for children under 16, with other countries such as Norway also considering new rules. How to implement age restrictions has caused a conflict between Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Apple and Google, which own the two dominant U.S. app stores. Meta, along with social media companies Snap and X, applauded the passage of the bill. 'Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child's age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it, and more than one-third of US states have introduced bills recognizing the central role app stores play,' the companies said. Kathleen Farley, vice president of litigation for the Chamber of Progress, a group backed by Apple and Alphabet, said the Texas law is likely to face legal challenges on First Amendment grounds. 'A big path for challenge is that it burdens adult speech in attempting to regulate children's speech,' Farley told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. 'I would say there are arguments that this is a content-based regulation singling out digital communication.' Child online safety groups that backed the Texas bill have also long argued for app store age verification, saying it is the only way to give parents effective control over children's use of technology. 'The problem is that self-regulation in the digital marketplace has failed, where app stores have just prioritized the profit over safety and rights of children and families,' Casey Stefanski, executive director for the Digital Childhood Alliance, told Reuters. Apple and Google opposed the Texas bill, saying it imposes blanket requirements to share age data with all apps, even when those apps are uncontroversial. 'If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it's an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores,' Apple said in a statement. Google and Apple each has its own proposal that involves sharing age range data only with apps that require it, rather than all apps. 'We see a role for legislation here,' said Kareem Ghanem, senior director of government affairs and public policy at Google, told Reuters. 'It's just got to be done in the right way, and it's got to hold the feet of Zuckerberg and the social media companies to the fire, because it's the harm to kids and teens on those sites that's really inspired people to take a closer look here and see how we can all do better.'
Al Jazeera
7 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Texas to require age verification for app purchases
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill requiring Apple and Alphabet's Google to verify the age of users of their app stores, putting the second most populous state in the United States at the centre of a debate over whether and how to regulate smartphone use by children and teenagers. The bill was signed into law on Tuesday. The law, which goes into effect on January 1, requires parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users aged below 18. Utah was the first US state to pass a similar law this year, and US lawmakers have also introduced a federal bill. Another Texas bill, passed in the state's House of Representatives and awaiting a Senate vote, would restrict social media apps to users over the age of 18. Age limits and parental consent for social media apps are among the few areas of wide US consensus. A Pew Research poll in 2023 indicated that 81 percent of Americans support requiring parental consent for children to create social media accounts and 71 percent supported age verification before using social media. The effect of social media on children's mental health has become a growing global concern. Dozens of US states have sued Meta Platforms, and the US surgeon general has issued an advisory on safeguards for children. Australia last year banned social media for children under 16, with other countries such as Norway also considering new rules. How to implement age restrictions has caused a conflict between Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Apple and Google, which own the two dominant US app stores. Meta and the social media companies Snap and X applauded the passage of the bill. 'Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child's age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it, and more than one-third of US states have introduced bills recognising the central role app stores play,' the companies said. Kathleen Farley, vice president of litigation for the Chamber of Progress, a group backed by Apple and Alphabet, said the Texas law is likely to face legal challenges on First Amendment grounds. 'A big path for challenge is that it burdens adult speech in attempting to regulate children's speech,' Farley told the Reuters news agency in an interview on Tuesday. 'I would say there are arguments that this is a content-based regulation singling out digital communication.' Child online safety groups that backed the Texas bill have also long argued for app store age verification, saying it is the only way to give parents effective control over children's use of technology. 'The problem is that self-regulation in the digital marketplace has failed, where app stores have just prioritised the profit over safety and rights of children and families,' Casey Stefanski, executive director for the Digital Childhood Alliance, told Reuters. Apple and Google opposed the Texas bill, saying it imposes blanket requirements to share age data with all apps, even when those apps are uncontroversial. 'If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it's an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores,' Apple said in a statement. Google and Apple each have their own proposal that involves sharing age range data only with apps that require it, rather than all apps. 'We see a role for legislation here,' Kareem Ghanem, senior director of government affairs and public policy at Google, told Reuters. 'It's just got to be done in the right way, and it's got to hold the feet of [Meta CEO Mark] Zuckerberg and the social media companies to the fire because it's the harm to kids and teens on those sites that's really inspired people to take a closer look here and see how we can all do better.'
CNA
27-05-2025
- Health
- CNA
Texas poised to enforce age verification on Apple, Google app stores
SAN FRANCISCO :A bill that requires Apple and Alphabet's Google to verify the age of users of their app stores could become law this week in Texas, putting the second-most-populous state in the U.S. at the center of a debate over whether and how to regulate the use of smartphones by children and teenagers. Senate Bill 2420 would require app store owners to verify the age of the user of a device, and, if that user is below the age of 18, require parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases. Utah was the first U.S. state to pass a similar law earlier this year, and U.S. lawmakers have also introduced a federal bill. The Texas bill is awaiting Governor Greg Abbott's signature after receiving super-majority approval from both houses of the Texas legislature. Another bill, which has not yet passed the state legislature, would restrict social media apps to users over 18. Age limits and parental consent for social media apps are one of the few areas of wide consensus in America, with a Pew Research poll in 2023 finding that 81 per cent of Americans support requiring parental consent for children to create social media accounts and 71 per cent support age verification before using social media. The mental health effect of social media on children has become a growing global concern, with dozens of U.S. states suing Meta Platforms and the U.S. Surgeon General issuing an advisory calling for safeguards for children. Australia last year banned social media for children under 16, with other countries such as Norway also considering new rules. How to implement age restrictions has caused a conflict between Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Apple and Google, which own the two dominant app stores in the U.S. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year said during a U.S. Senate hearing that he believed parents should not "have to upload an ID or proof they are a parent in every single app that their children use. The easier place to do this is in the app stores themselves." Meta declined to comment for this story. Child online safety groups that backed the Texas bill have also long argued for app store age verification, saying it is the only way to give parents effective control over children's use of technology. "The problem is that self-regulation in the digital marketplace has failed, where app stores have just prioritized the profit over safety and rights of children and families," Casey Stefanski, executive director for the Digital Childhood Alliance, told Reuters. Apple and Google opposed the Texas bill, saying it imposes blanket requirements to share age data with all apps, even when those apps are uncontroversial. "If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it's an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores," Apple said in a statement. Google and Apple each have their own proposals that involve sharing age range data only with apps that require it, rather than all apps. "We see a role for legislation here," said Kareem Ghanem, senior director of government affairs and public policy at Google, told Reuters. "It's just got to be done in the right way, and it's got to hold the feet of Zuckerberg and the social media companies to the fire, because it's the harms to kids and teens on those sites that's really inspired people to take a closer look here and see how we can all do better."
