Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Digital Platforms topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate approves app‑store accountability bill to limit minor access and require parental consent
Summary
Senate Bill 187, adopted by the Alabama Senate April 17, 2025, requires app store providers to verify age, link minor accounts to verified parent accounts, obtain verifiable parental consent for minors, and protect age‑verification data; it authorizes the attorney general to pursue deceptive‑trade‑practice enforcement.
The Alabama Senate passed Senate Bill 187 on April 17, 2025, adopting a substitute after debate and cloture. The bill requires app store providers that distribute apps to Alabamians to request and verify users’ ages, require minor accounts to be affiliated with a verified parent account, obtain verifiable parental consent before allowing a minor to download an app, and protect age-verification information using industry‑standard encryption. The Senate passed the measure on final passage, 26 yeas to 6 nays.
Sponsor Senator Chambliss framed the bill as a second approach to the same policy goal addressed in SB186 — protecting minors from “unwanted, unsolicited exposure” to sexually explicit content — but by regulating digital storefronts and contract acceptance, rather than device defaults. “This bill protects minors by requiring parental permission before they can agree to the app’s terms of service,” Chambliss said on the floor.
The bill defines age categories, requires app stores to verify age using commercially available methods or rules set by the attorney general, and requires app stores to provide developers with real‑time access to a user’s age-category and consent status for users located in Alabama. Developers are required to limit the use of age‑category data, notify app stores of significant changes to an app, and may request personal age verification data only in limited circumstances (not more than once per 12 months absent special cause).
Enforcement is through the attorney general under the state’s consumer‑protection laws (chapter 19, title 8), with civil penalties up to $50,000 per violation and possible punitive damages for patterns of knowing or reckless conduct. The bill contains a safe‑harbor provision for developers who rely in good faith on age verification provided by an app store provider.
Supporters emphasized parental control and the need for age‑appropriate app ratings and notifications. Opponents raised technical and privacy questions about age verification and data sharing. Sen. Chambliss and others said the law is focused on minors and contract rules rather than censorship of adults.
The bill sets an effective date in its text for October 1, 2026, and the attorney general is directed to adopt implementing rules. Final passage followed an adoption of substitute language and earlier closure votes on debate.
