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Meta Wants App Stores to Verify User Age: ‘A Tricky Task’

Photo from Dima Solomin via Unsplash

Meta Wants App Stores to Verify User Age: ‘A Tricky Task’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Meta’s Global Head of Safety, Antigone Davis, believes that responsibility for user age verification should be placed on app store operators instead of social media platforms.

“The ability to know somebody’s age and try to protect privacy at the same time can be challenging,” said Davis.

So, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is pushing for app stores like Apple’s and Google’s to verify users’ ages with parental consent before they download apps.

It’s testing the idea on its virtual reality program, Quest.

“Meta is prompting Quest 2 and 3 users to reenter their birthdays so that it can place accounts in the appropriate age experience as it tries to centralize age verification through its Quest store,” The Verge reported. “Teens aged 13 to 17 will have more privacy settings turned on by default and can be monitored through parental supervision tools. Preteens aged 10 to 12 have even more restrictive settings turned on, with only parents or guardians able to change privacy settings.”

Meta uses its own user age group application programming interfaces (APIs) to understand user’s ages.

“For example, when someone launches an app on the Meta Quest platform, these APIs allow Meta to share whether the app is used by a preteen, teen or adult account. The app is then able to use this information to tailor a more age-appropriate experience and to properly protect young people’s data,” Meta says.

The idea is that when users set up their phone for the first time, they provide their age and parental details. They would be blocked from downloading anything above their age level and/or would be prompted for parental consent.

“Still, finding the right method for age verification remains a tricky task,” The Verge reported. “Some policymakers have scoffed at using methods like self-proclaimed birthdates to verify age since it’s easy to lie on the app. Davis said Meta will double-check any users who say they’re suddenly in a different age category when they reenter their birthday and require them to verify with an ID or credit card. Meta doesn’t store that information long-term after it completes the process.”

“There is no one panacea,” Davis said. “That’s why I think you see the industry has struggled a bit to come up with a simple and easy solution.”

Davis believes that the easiest and most private way to verify is to put the burden on the app stores.

Davis said in an interview last year, “What we’re really trying to do is create something that’s simple and consistent for parents…If parents are approving apps, what you don’t want is for parents to chase every single app.”

Movieguide® reported that Florida recently passed a social media ban for children under the age of 13:

Florida just passed a law that bans children under 13 from creating accounts on social media.

“It’s not designed to address the content per se, which may receive certain First Amendment protections, but it’s designed to address the addictive qualities, the addictive features of social media,” said Melissa Henson, Vice President of Programs for Parents Television and Media Council…

The law, called “HB 3,” bans children under 13 and requires parental consent for 14 and 15-year-olds who wish to make accounts. It also requires pornography sites to use age verification methods for their users. The law will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2025.

But Davis says state laws like Florida’s are difficult for companies to navigate.

“What you’re finding right now is that some states specify the type and form of age verification, some states don’t specify the type and form of age verification,” she said. “Some have some idea of accuracy rates that they think should apply; some don’t offer any accuracy rates. There’s significant ambiguity in many of the laws, and I think there will be some concerns about liability and risk for all companies with the laws as they currently are.”

So, Meta advocates for app store age verification on a federal level.


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