SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers advanced the App Store Accountability Act on Wednesday, which, if passed, anyone in the state would have to verify their age before downloading digital apps to their devices.
"Anything that any of the companies can do, the legislature, anybody to help regulate all of this and protect our kids, I am all for," said parent Brynn Whitchurch.
A mother of three, Whitchurch shared that when it comes to social media, it's a difficult path and it's actually not allowed in her home.
"Social media doesn't come with any instruction manuals so these kids get it, and then they don't know how to navigate it. Which is really hard because there's so much dangerous stuff with it," she said.
Utah tech expert, Pete Ashdown explained how age verification is not new for app providers, sharing how Apple and Google have had the feature for a long time.
"This bill is coming on the tales of last year’s bill that did age verification for pornography websites, and the difference there is pornography websites don’t always demand a credit card for their content,” explained Ashdown.
SB 142 will require parental consent for accounts belonging to minors.
“I’m sure that the state legislature has good intentions on this bill but primarily parents should parent their children,” said Ashdown.
Adults often have to verify their age on several sites, and Whitchurch believes there's no harm in adding to the list.
"Things in our life that we have to verify our age for, so I don't see why that would be an issue but that's just me," she said. "I mean, you have to prove your age for a lot of things that we've deemed inappropriate for kids; alcohol, cigarettes, all that stuff. So I don't see why this should be any different."
The App Store Accountability Act will be heard by the full Senate for consideration.
