Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Ohio committee hears competing bills to require parental controls on teen app downloads
Summary
The Senate Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee heard competing proposals: SB 167 would require app stores to verify age and obtain parental consent before teens download apps, while substitute SB 175 would create an operating-system age signal shared with apps. Tech companies, faith groups, developers and suicide-prevention advocates gave opposing views on privacy, constitutionality and effectiveness.
A Senate committee on Tuesday heard dueling bills intended to keep children safer online: SB 167, the App Store Accountability Act, would require app stores to verify a user's age and obtain parental consent before a teen may download an app; substitute SB 175 would instead rely on an operating-system age signal shared with apps to deliver age-appropriate experiences.
Proponent testimony for SB 167 came from Chris Rehnkes, Meta's public policy director for Ohio, who told the Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee that "protecting teens online is a shared responsibility and everyone must do their part" and that the App Store approach would allow a single, secure age-verification checkpoint at the store level. Rehnkes cited a recent poll he said found "80% of Ohio parents support legislation that would require parental…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
