Utah becomes first state to require app store age verification for minors

US state Utah has passed a law requiring app stores to verify a user’s age and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps.

As reported by The Verge, the App Store Accountability Act is the latest online safety bill for minors, reflecting broader state and federal efforts to regulate app design and impose age restrictions.

Many state-level online safety laws have been blocked in court, with a key federal bill failing last year over free speech concerns. 

Meta, Snap, and X (formerly Twitter) have praised Utah’s age verification law and urged Congress to adopt similar measures, emphasising parents' need for a streamlined, privacy-friendly process.

“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,” they wrote in a joint statement. 

Concerns around the new law

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Progress warns that Utah’s age verification law threatens user privacy and free speech, citing Supreme Court concerns.

“The Supreme Court has long recognised that age verification requirements, like those in SB 142, chill access to protected speech for everyone and are therefore inconsistent with the First Amendment,” said Chamber of Progress legal advocacy counsel Kerry Maeve Sheehan in a blog post. 

The Supreme Court will review age verification laws this year.