SACRAMENTO, California — The support of Google, Meta, and Snap for new legislation requiring online age checks has been heard by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The assembly bill received support from both parties with no opposition for California Age Verification Bill. As a result, the bill now requires Google, Microsoft, and Snap, along with other device makers and app stores, to check for user ages.
While there has been tension over similar legislation in other states, tech firms, including Google and OpenAI, have come together to support Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ proposition, aimed at creating a baseline for age verification. Other states have proposed bipartisan age verification systems.
‘This is a step in the right direction toward establishing intelligent web protection for children,” Wicks said.
Meta, Google, and their peers also believe that Wicks’ proposal allows for older minors the right to download apps without parental permission, and is more considerate of user privacy overall.
There’s no requirement to upload a photo ID, which privacy advocates, for instance, don’t like. It’s like when the U.K. started implementing the age-gating rules earlier this summer. Instead, Wicks’ bill has parents specify their children’s ages when setting up a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Then, the device categorizes the children into one of four age groups. Following that, the device age information is sent to applications such as Facebook and Instagram.
Not everyone supports Wicks’ plan. Apple, which operates iOS, has remained silent. One more, in a controversial move, the bill has in the final stage opposition from a powerful California film industry which signals the beginning of a troubled discourse between the west Hollywood and Silicon Valley which might oblige Newsome to select between the two emblematic Californian trad industries.
The Motion Picture Association, which represents Amazon, Netflix, and other major film studios, claims it would undo their current measures for safeguarding children. MPA, in a letter, which POLITICO has acquired, admonished California lawmakers this week, asserting that device-based age verification comes with confusion. In one instance, parents and kids have separate Netflix profiles under a single account which can be accessed through numerous devices.
Wicks’ measure does not stop parents from setting up kid profiles on streaming services. She told POLITICO on Saturday morning, “There might be some cleanups due on the bill.” She added that she might work with the MPA and Netflix next year to work on some changes to the bill. Newsom has until October 13 to either sign or veto the bills.
