Are the Unintended Consequences of the App Store Accountability Act Worth the Risks?

May 1, 2025

We’ve seen recently that simple, new rules for complicated technological ecosystems can yield unintended consequences. Consider the new antitrust laws of the European Union, which mandate “interoperability” between tech companies.

Since the days of Steve Jobs, Apple has been obsessive in its quest to keep porn out of its ecosystem. But with the implementation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple’s was forced by Brussels to include a “Hot Tub” app (yes, use your imagination) in its app store. What was intended to improve the experience of consumers is now compelling a company dedicated to keeping out pornography to offer pornography.

This recent experience was rattling around in our brains when today, two leading Republicans, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. John James of Michigan, introduced a bill with a commendable goal – to safeguard children from exposure to apps with inappropriate content. The App Store Accountability Act would require operators of app stores with at least 5 million users to verify ages when users sign up for an account.

This bill would obligate Apple and Google to categorize users by age, and send those categories to app developers. When a user is established as a minor, parental consent would then be necessary.

But the bill begs a significant question: How will the new system establish age verification? Answer: Users would be forced to turn over sensitive personally identifying information.

The logic of this requirement points to the creation of a government ID card. Others point out that age verification could be performed by a facial scan, as imperfect as that is. In any event, the bill would mandate the creation of new databases stuffed full of personal information and the faces of tens of millions of app users.

Many of concerns the bill addresses have already been effectively managed by the free market. Google and Apple are alert to removing objectionable apps. Apple has been a notable leader in centering its business model and consumer appeal around privacy and safety. Could the new verification system potentially break what already works well? Could we be on the verge of making things worse by trying to make them better?

I hope that Congress takes a deep breath and explores all of the implications of this bill before moving forward. In short, explore all the angles and don’t be Brussels.