By Rosa Mendoza, President and CEO, ALLvanza

As technology is woven more deeply into kids’ lives every day, keeping them safe as they use digital devices is more urgent—and more complex—than ever. In response, many U.S. states are rushing to adopt new laws intended to protect minors in digital spaces. Though well-intentioned, these initiatives have created a patchwork of inconsistent rules that confuse families and still leave serious gaps in protection. Parents need clearer, unified, privacy-forward approaches that empower parents, simplify compliance, and better protect young users.

The Patchwork Problem: Inconsistent Laws, Uneven Protections

Across the U.S., states are adopting different approaches to online safety. Each proposed law or rule has its own scope and its own requirements:

  • Some require express parental consent before a teen can sign up for certain apps.
  • Others mandate age-verification checks, sometimes involving IDs or sensitive data.
  • Age thresholds, types of apps, degree of verification and other considerations differ from one law to another.
  • Some proposals would go as far as prohibiting youth from accessing some technologies at all, including social media.

This fragmentation means that a teen might not be able to access one app but be granted access to another of a similar kind. Likewise, rules could shift as they cross state lines. The result? Confusion, protection that varies from place to place, and the risk that some youth could lose access to critical communities, resources and information altogether.

Why This Matters for Families

  • Redundant and invasive verification requirements

Under many state laws, parents may need to submit sensitive identifying documents—such as driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and even Social Security numbers—every time a teen signs up for a new app. That’s not just tedious; it also opens the door to privacy and security risks.

  • Inconsistent and potentially inadequate protections

In a fragmented system, some apps may enforce stricter rules while others don’t—meaning kids can access content or technology that’s not appropriate for their age. Likewise, parents and children in some states may be better protected than their counterparts across state lines.

  • Technical and legal burden placed on parents

Just to make sure their children can use devices safely, families may have to understand the rules of their state, decipher the signup processes for many different apps, and know which apps have even more hoops to jump through. Patchwork rules place the burden on parents.

  • Risks involved in using third-party parental control tools

In the absence of laws creating standardized verification systems, many parents turn to third-party monitoring or parental control apps. But research shows these tools can themselves introduce serious privacy and security vulnerabilities. For example, a comparative analysis found that some parental control apps transmitted data unencrypted. Others lacked basic privacy policies.

Another study revealed that parental control software often includes a tier of higher-level access privileges in the background that parents may know nothing about but that would allow a bad actor (or an ambitious child) to override settings. A technological “back door” could also create an opening for hackers aiming to steal the very confidential information with which parents have trusted the system.

A Smarter, Unified Approach: Let App Stores Handle Parental Verification

Instead of relying on state-by-state laws, a federal standard could streamline the process of protecting youth online with consistent rules that scale—while minimizing privacy risks. Such an approach could include:

  • Device setup or account creation
    A child’s age is verified just one time, when they register their device or app store account.
  • Parental notification and consent
    After initial verification, when users under 16 (or other threshold) attempt to download a new app, parents or guardians would be sent a notification. They can then approve or deny downloads in a process similar to “Ask to Buy” models already used by Apple and Google.
  • Single age signal
    App stores would provide a simple age-category signal (e.g. “under 16”) to apps, ensuring that apps don’t have to collect sensitive IDs themselves.
  • No repeated verification requests
    Once age is verified at the system level, individual apps don’t need to ask again—so families aren’t forced to undergo identity checks repeatedly.
  • Federal framework
    A federal framework would create one uniform standard across all platforms and jurisdictions and take the burden off of families.

Example: Utah’s New Law on App Store Age Verification

In 2025, Utah enacted the App Store Accountability Act, a forward-thinking law that places the responsibility for age verification and parental consent where it belongs: with mobile app stores like Apple’s and Google Play. By placing the age-verification process in the app stores’ hands, the law makes it easier for parents to set limits on their kids’ online activity. It also strengthens privacy protections, since parents won’t have to enter sensitive information separately into each app as their kids want to use them. And, importantly, it enables apps to use that information to build age-appropriate experiences for users.

While Utah’s action marks important progress, it also highlights the broader need for a federal standard—one that brings consistency across all states and platforms. A national framework modeled on this approach would eliminate the confusion of state-by-state regulations, offer clear expectations for tech companies, and deliver a simpler, more effective system for protecting kids online.

Benefits of a Single, National Standard

  • Uniform protection: Kids are protected consistently, regardless of app or state.
  • Reduced confusion: Families deal with one system, not dozens of patchwork laws.
  • Simpler compliance: Developers and platforms build once, rather than adapting to many state schemes.
  • Stronger privacy: Sensitive personal documents stay off most app-developer databases.
  • Scalability & flexibility: A national standard can evolve as tech and threats evolve.

What You Can Do

Support federal legislation

  • Support federal legislation, such as the App Store Accountability Act (H.R. 3149 / S. 1586), to require privacy-respecting parental age verification mechanisms within app ecosystems.

Engage your local community

  • Write to your state or federal legislators explaining why this issue matters.
  • Share trustworthy summaries of legislative proposals and their tradeoffs.
  • Encourage schools and parent groups to host discussions on digital safety and policy.

The internet and mobile phones are here to stay, and apps are woven into teens’ daily lives. But we don’t need to resign ourselves to a chaotic patchwork of regulations. Families deserve a thoughtful, unified framework—one that empowers parents, embeds protections at the infrastructure level, and limits burdens on privacy.

We need a federal standard that routes parental approval through app stores, providing a clearer, simpler, more scalable, and privacy-conscious solution. With smart policy, we can ensure youth enjoy technology safely—without turning every download into a risky data exchange. Let’s make online safety simple, effective, and respectful of both children and their families.