App Store Accountability Act
Sponsored By: Representative James
In Committee
Summary
Gives parents more visibility and control over apps their children use. This bill would create rules requiring age verification and verifiable parental consent, limit collection of age-related data, and require app stores and developers to share a child's age category and consent status with downstream actors for enforcement and oversight.
Show full summary
- Families and parents: Parents would receive clear consent disclosures and tools to approve or monitor account creation and app use for minors, increasing parental oversight at account setup and during app use.
- Children and privacy: The bill would restrict how much age-related data apps can collect and require protections and minimization of that information to reduce unnecessary tracking of minors.
- App stores and developers: Covered app stores and developers would face specific obligations, a certification option for compliance, and a safe harbor for good-faith compliance; most provisions would take effect one year after enactment.
- Regulators and states: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would handle federal enforcement and states could also enforce the law, while the bill preempts state laws on the same topics but preserves contract and tort claims.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Parents must OK kids’ app purchases
If enacted, when an account is for a minor, it would have to link to a verified parent account. A parent would need to give verifiable consent before a child could download, buy, or make in‑app purchases. After a big app change, the store would tell the user and, for minors, notify the parent and get new consent before the child continues. If a parent revokes consent, the store would tell the developer. Stores would share a user’s age group and consent status with apps in real time, and age ratings must be shown clearly in plain language.
Age checks and limits on age data
If enacted, app stores would ask for and verify your age when you create an account, and must protect that data. Developers would have to use the store’s age signal; getting it would count as knowing a user’s age. Apps could use age data only to enforce age rules, follow the law, or run features, and could ask for it no more than once every 12 months unless there’s a new account or suspected misuse. Developers could not enforce contracts against a minor without verified parental consent, could not mislead in consent notices, and could not share age data with outside companies except service providers. These rules would tighten checks while adding strong privacy and consent protections.
Enforcement, complaints, and national rules
If enacted, violations would be treated as unfair or deceptive acts, and the FTC could use its usual tools and penalties. State attorneys general could sue on behalf of residents after notifying the FTC, and the FTC could step in; overlapping state cases against the same defendants would pause. The FTC would set up compliance reviews for big app stores, decide within 30 days, and issue one‑year public certificates when a store is compliant; the public could file complaints. Within a year, the FTC would publish nonbinding guidance; enforcement would rest on the statute, not guidance alone. The bill would also preempt related state and local laws, but contract and tort law would still apply.
Who is covered and when
If enacted, age groups would be set as: under 13, 13–15, 16–17, and 18 or older. App stores with more than 5,000,000 U.S. users would be covered. Most rules would start one year after enactment, though some parts may have their own timelines.
Safe harbor for app developers
If enacted, one year after the law, a developer who relies in good faith on the store’s age signal, follows this Act’s rules, and uses recognized rating standards would have a safe harbor from lawsuits under this Act. This would not shield the developer from claims under other laws.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
James
MI • R
Cosponsors
Bilirakis
FL • R
Sponsored 5/1/2025
Houchin
IN • R
Sponsored 12/10/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in