Age verification: Tension is increasing between Google Rair Meta regarding online security of children. Google alleges that META and other social media companies are putting the responsibility of protecting minors on their platforms on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Whose responsibility for Age Verification?

Google's statement

Questioning Utah's new law “App Store Accountability Act”, Google said that this law can become a threat to children's privacy, but will fail to remove real online dangers. Under this law, the app stores will have to verify the age of users and it will be mandatory to get the permission of the parents.
Google says that Meta, SNAP and X are supporting this law simply so that their own responsibility is reduced.

Meta's side

META admitted that the age verification could be shared with the app developers in a safe manner. However, the company raised the question that how would Google decide which apps will get this data?
META believes that the easiest solution will be to give control to parents and make it mandatory in the law that the consent of the parents should be obtained before downloading any app.

Google solution

Google has proposed an alternative legal framework, under which age verification should be implemented only for the apps which are associated with sensitive content.
Google believes that the app developers should allow whether their apps need age verification or not.