Alabama lawmakers are fast-tracking a Meta-backed bill to require Apple and Google to age-gate their app stores to protect kids, one of several states considering such measures despite a recent court ruling that blocked a similar Texas law.

The Alabama House passed the measure last month, and a Senate committee advanced it last week, both on unanimous votes. The Senate approved a similar bill last year. 

So-called App Store Accountability bills also received hearings in Kansas and New Hampshire last week and are active in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. 

The bills would require app stores to verify a user’s age and ensure that minors obtain parental permission to download an app or make an in-app purchase. Supporters say age-gating app stores is a way to make the online ecosystem safer for kids. 

“The app store is a gateway to what our children are exposed to online,” said Alabama Rep. Chris Sells, the bill’s Republican sponsor.

The battle over whether app stores should be responsible for age checks has pitted Apple and Google — operators of the two largest app stores — against social media companies including Meta, Snap and X. The clash of tech titans that has spurred intense lobbying. 

Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment.

The multi-state push follows passage last year of first-in-the-nation laws in Louisiana, Texas and Utah.  Federal legislation has also been introduced. 

Texas’s law quickly faced a tech industry challenge on First Amendment grounds. In December, a federal judge granted the Computer & Communications Industry Association’s request for an injunction. A youth-led group also sued to overturn the law.

“This order stops the Texas App Store Accountability Act from taking effect in order to preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents, and younger internet users,” Stephanie Joyce, CCIA’s senior vice president and chief of staff, said in a statement after the ruling.

Read more: Social media titans back S.D. app store age verification bill

In Alabama last week, Sen. Clyde Chambliss, a Republican who sponsored last year’s bill, told colleagues he’s “been barraged with input on this bill.” 

“So the people that are killing it now want me to negotiate with them,” Chambliss said. “That’s where we are.”

A coalition of industry groups last week sent a letter urging senators to reject the bill on the grounds that it is “broad and unworkable,” would increase security and privacy risks, and is constitutionally flawed. 

The letter’s lead signatory was The App Association, a global trade group that represents small- and medium-sized app developers and whose corporate sponsors include Apple.

In a statement to Pluribus News, Morgan Reed, the association’s president, said the law would damage businesses and innovation. 

“Even after a federal judge ruled the App Store Accountability Act in Texas unconstitutional, the Meta lobbying effort is continuing to steamroll over parents and small businesses to offload the responsibility for keeping kids safe,” Reed said. 

Theresa Garcia Robertson, Meta’s southeast U.S. lobbyist, told the Alabama Senate panel that requiring app stores to verify ages would allow social media companies like Meta to “place younger users into age-appropriate experiences on our platforms.” 

Robertson also said app store age verification would create a “centralized solution” so that parents don’t have to share personal information with each app their child engages with, which she called a “privacy nightmare.”

App store bills generally mandate that the stores verify a user’s age when they establish an account. If the user is a minor, their account must be linked to a parent or guardian’s. Each time the minor tries to download or purchase an app or make an in-app purchase, the parent gets a notice on their device and can either approve or deny the transaction. 

Parents also receive a notice if an app they’ve allowed their child to download changes its age rating or makes significant changes to its terms of service or privacy policy, such as allowing third-party advertising. 

App stores must also provide parents with a method to withdraw approval for a particular app.

Other elements of the legislation require the app stores to send a signal to app developers upon request that identifies the age-range of minor users: those under 13, 13 to 16, and 16 to 18. Some of the bills only require parental permission for minors under 16 to download apps.

App store bills also place obligations on app developers to request the age signal from the app stores and use that information to apply any default protections for younger users. Apps must also notify the app stores of significant changes to their product. 

The bills would prohibit app stores and developers from enforcing terms of service for minor accounts unless parental consent has been obtained.

Pursuit of app store regulations is part of a broader movement by state legislators to address online harms and teen wellbeing.

Other key players in the fight include the Digital Childhood Alliance, a coalition of advocacy groups that formed last year to support passage of app store laws. The group has developed a model bill. 

Bloomberg previously reported that Meta is one of the Alliance’s funders. Meta told Pluribus News last year that it has collaborated with the Alliance to support its efforts.

A new group has emerged this year to oppose the app store bills. Right to Parent is led by Idaho Sen. Brian Lenney, a Republican who helped kill the bill in his state, and Utah activist Heather Andrews, who works for Americans for Prosperity. They say app store laws let social media apps off the hook for harmful content.

“None of these bills target algorithms, which is truly the most egregious thing,” Andrews said. “Our children are becoming addicted, they’re being targeted by algorithms.”

Andrews and Lenney said their group has not received funding from Apple or Google.