Apple has been lobbying hard in Louisiana to prevent the App Store from falling under a law protecting minors.. The Wall Street Journal tell how a team of Apple lobbyists managed to unravel a bill earlier this year that would have made the App Store (or Google Play) responsible for verifying users’ ages. There would have been a single point of control rather than apps having to do the work, with the risk that it would be diluted, less effective, and burdensome for parents.
Image Apple.
Kim Carver, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, said he added a requirement to a bill on protecting young children from using smartphones to make platforms responsible for verifying the age of their users. And thus prevent them from collecting personal data that could be used to create profiles and personalized ads.
Entrusting this age control to Apple and Google through their app stores seemed to be the simplest solution, the one that social networking platforms (Meta, Tinder, etc.) have obviously pushed. No more need for parents to transmit proof of identity for the least of these apps.
Seeing that there was unanimous support for the project, Apple’s lobbying ramped up, hiring four more people. A former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives recounted a previous episode three years ago. The state was considering forcing Apple to open its payment system. In retaliation, an Apple employee threatened to move production of a film planned for Louisiana — “Emancipation,” starring Will Smith — to another state. Apple denied the allegations to the Wall Street Journal any intervention of this nature on his behalf.
The bill that Carver sponsored still needed to get support from a committee before it could be put to a final vote. However, Carver apparently doubted that it would get all the votes needed in that committee. Apple seemed to have won over a few people to its cause. Carver then spoke to the chair of that committee, seeking some advice. The content of their conversation was not given, but Carver promised not to object if the bill no longer focused on the App Store, but continued to hold other platforms accountable.
For one of the supporters of this text in its original version, Carver was led by the nose, wrongly believing that he would not have the necessary votes. The Apple lobbyist would have capitalized on the elected official’s lack of experience. He did not fail to thank the latter afterwards.
Looking back, from his experience as a parent dealing with parental controls on his daughter’s iPhone, Carver says he regrets not defending the bill in its entirety. Another opportunity to get app stores back in the game will present itself with the next session of Parliament, he says. More work ahead for Apple’s lobbyists.
