CV NEWS FEED // A coalition of groups led by the American Principles Project (APP) cosigned a letter calling on Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to protect children from pornographic material in app stores.
CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer added his signature to the letter. It began by commending Cox for his past “courageous leadership” in protecting children from harmful explicit content.
The groups pointed to Cox’s signing of Utah’s age-verification law in 2023, as well as two bills he signed to require content filters for mobile devices.
“We the undersigned leaders and organizations urge you to build on this important work by supporting an effort to require age verification at the app store level,” the letter continued:
As it stands, young children are just one or two clicks away from being exposed to the most violent, sadistic pornography imaginable. Cracking down on online pornography websites that refuse to adopt age verification is an important first step – one Utah has already taken.
But shouldn’t app store owners bear some level of responsibility for the content they are distributing to their users, especially given the fact that they already know the age of their users and more kids are increasingly accessing this content from mobile apps? We think so.
“The Parental Oversight of Minors’ Apps Act would forcibly close many existing loopholes. App stores would be required to obtain parental consent before allowing any app download, purchase, or on-app purchase,” the letter explained.
“[The app stores] would be required to provide parents with a clear summary of their services so parents know what they are allowing onto their child’s device,” it added.
The letter cited a Pew Research poll which showed that 95% “of American teenagers own a smartphone.”
“That means the vast majority of kids have unfettered access to harmful material via these smartphones’ app stores,” the groups noted. “We believe app stores are in a unique position to effectively perform age verification and prevent this distribution of harmful material.”
>> AGE VERIFICATION LAWS WORKING AS PORNHUB FLEES <<
The organizations indicated that Apple and Google have an effective duopoly on smartphone app stores.
“However, these app store owners have consistently failed to protect kids, even allowing them to circumvent parental controls,” they pointed out:
It’s clear that action is needed. We urge Utah to support legislation that will hold these app stores accountable when they intentionally fall short on their existing obligations and to what they claim in their own terms of services and privacy policies.
“The fate of our children is on the line,” the letter emphasized. “We should support policies that empower parents to protect their kids online, and we believe app store age verification will help make this policy ideal a legal reality.”
APP President Terry Schilling and APP Policy Director Jon Schweppe led the letter.
Other signatories included representatives from the Digital Progress Institute, Enough is Enough, The Heritage Foundation, Utah Parents United, The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), Institute for Family Studies, ACLJ, National Religious Broadcasters, Concerned Women for America, and the Bull Moose Project.
>> APP POLL: OVER 8 IN 10 AMERICANS SUPPORT AGE VERIFICATION LAWS <<
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