Google and Apple lobbyists are engaged in a massive effort to press state lawmakers to adopt kids’ online safety laws that would shield the tech giants from some lawsuits tied to age-verification requirements, POLITICO has learned.
The scale and scope of the ambitious push, which has not been previously reported, is outlined in draft legislation, internal emails and interviews with seven people with knowledge of the effort, some of whom were granted anonymity to discuss details of private conversations. A virtual stalemate on kids’ online safety in Washington has pushed these tech behemoths to focus their efforts on state houses around the country.
The lobbying battle is unfolding as Big Tech faces hundreds of lawsuits from individuals who say they or their children were harmed by the platforms’ design. Meanwhile, states are passing age-verification laws, opening the door for additional lawsuits against the tech companies.
But it’s the proposals from Apple and Google that are getting pushback from some corners of the tech safety community.
In the states, the tech titans are running headlong into a competing lobbying effort by Meta, which is urging lawmakers to support legislation that would require app stores, rather than platforms, verify users’ ages to ensure minors do not see age-inappropriate content online.
The larger fight centers on the App Store Accountability Act, which would require app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps or make purchases and assume substantial legal liability.
As versions of the ASAA were introduced in state legislatures in Georgia, Arizona and Kansas earlier this year, lobbyists representing Google and Apple pitched alternative bill text to lawmakers that would bar private lawsuits and leave enforcement to state attorneys general.