By Sayantani Ghosh
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook met U.S. House members on Wednesday to push back against federal legislation that could require the iPhone maker to authenticate users’ ages and possibly collect sensitive data on children, lobbying instead to put the onus on parents to decide whether to tell app stores about a child’s age.
The bill, called the App Store Accountability Act, is aimed at making sure that minors are not using harmful content online. Texas has already signed a similar bill into law, requiring parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users aged below 18. Utah was the first U.S. state to pass a similar law earlier this year and Australia introduced a nationwide social media ban on under-16s this week.
While the notion of age limits for online content has broad U.S. public support, legislative efforts have kicked off a behind-the-scenes brawl between Apple and Google and tech rivals such as Meta Platforms (META.O) . Apple and Google, which own the largest app stores in the world, say verifying the age of minors could entail mass collection of children’s birth certificates and other sensitive documents, while Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has argued that requiring app stores to check ages is the only effective way to enforce limits.
Apple, which has long resisted government interference in data privacy matters, has expressed concerns that the federal U.S. legislation would require it to collect identifying information about virtually every Apple user, including children. Cook met House Energy and Commerce Committee members on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to discuss the concerns, Apple said.
“Not all legislative proposals are equally protective of privacy or focused on holding all players in the ecosystem accountable,” Apple’s global head of privacy, Hilary Ware, said in a letter to the committee last week. “Some well-intended proposals for age verification at the app marketplace level … would require the collection of sensitive information about anyone who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.” A Pew Research poll in 2023 found that 81% of Americans support requiring parental consent for children to create social media accounts and 71% support age verification before using social media.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook met with U.S. House members to oppose a bill requiring age verification for app users, citing privacy concerns. The bill aims to protect minors online, but Apple argues it could lead to mass data collection. Cook advocates for parental control over age disclosure. The bill has sparked debate among tech giants, with differing views on age verification's effectiveness.

- Apple CEO Tim Cook met with U.S. House members to oppose the App Store Accountability Act, which would require age verification for app users.  
- The bill aims to protect minors from harmful online content, with similar laws already enacted in Texas and Utah, while Australia has introduced a nationwide ban on under-16s using social media.  
- Apple argues that the legislation could lead to mass collection of sensitive data, raising privacy concerns, despite public support for age verification measures.

Reuters

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Apple CEO pushes for changes in US child online safety bill, citing privacy concerns