Netflix rates its app “12+,” claiming only “infrequent or mild sexual content.” Tell that to parents who’ve watched the company push transgender ideology and sexually explicit programming into teen feeds. It’s a small window into a much larger crisis: Big Tech is lying about what our children are exposed to, and getting rich while doing it.
Last October, the Digital Childhood Institute filed a detailed complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, accusing Google of violating federal law and its own FTC consent decree. The complaint lays bare how the world’s largest tech company knowingly markets adult apps to kids, collects their data illegally, and misleads parents about safety.
“Enabling minors at this critical stage of development to terminate parental oversight… constitutes a clear breach of duty of care,” the complaint warns.
Another section reveals that “Google uses no human moderation in its initial rating of apps, relying instead on an automated survey…that takes only minutes to complete.” In other words, Google lets bots and marketers decide what’s “safe” for your 12-year-old. And when problematic apps are wrongly rated as appropriate for younger users, even parents who carefully set device restrictions (such as blocking apps rated above 12+) are unknowingly exposing their children to harmful content.
Back in August, Digital Childhood Institute filed a similar complaint against Apple, accusing the company of deceiving parents through false age ratings and knowingly exposing minors to explicit, adult material in a similar violation of federal law. The pattern is clear. This is not a single-company problem, but a systemic failure across Big Tech to protect children online.
For better or worse, childhood is becoming increasingly digital. But too often, we see horrific stories of children manipulated by AI chatbots or accessing violent and pornographic material online—often without their parents ever knowing.
This isn’t the future we want for our children. No one should want kids to be a click away from sexual, violent, or exploitative content. Yet that’s precisely the world Big Tech has built. It’s a world where profit, not protection, drives design.
As the formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission details, Google is violating the law in five glaring ways—and children are paying the price. The company falsely markets apps with violent and sexual content as “safe for everyone,” luring kids toward platforms that no parent would knowingly approve of. Its so-called “Family Link” tool, which claims to help parents guide their children’s digital activity, is equally deceptive; at age 13, a child can unilaterally disable all parental oversight with a single click.
Meanwhile, Google allows minors to enter binding digital contracts—agreements filled with legal jargon they cannot possibly comprehend—while the company collects a commission on every download. It also enables the unlawful tracking and monetization of children’s personal data, in direct violation of federal child-privacy protections under COPPA and the FTC Act.
Finally, despite being subject to a 2014 FTC consent decree, Google continues to bill parents for in-app purchases made by minors without obtaining their informed consent.
These are not oversights. These are calculated business decisions, engineered to maximize engagement, harvest data, and monetize childhood.
That’s why Senator Mike Lee’s App Store Accountability Act (S.1586) and Congressman John James’s companion bill (H.R.3149) are urgently needed. As Lee said, “For too long, Big Tech has profited from app stores through which children in America and across the world access violent and sexual material while risking contact from online predators.”
“For too long” is right. The App Store Accountability Act would finally make app stores answer to parents rather than shareholders. It empowers parents as the decision-makers for their children’s online safety by requiring app stores and developers to:
- Verify age and link parental accounts before any app download or purchase.
- Provide accurate, independent age ratings for every app.
- Ban the sale or sharing of minors’ data collected for verification.
- Submit to annual oversight and certification to ensure compliance.
The bill has broad, bipartisan appeal. 88 percent of parents support requiring app stores to obtain parental approval for minors’ downloads. Over 100 child-safety organizations have endorsed it, led by Melissa McKay and the Digital Childhood Alliance, whose tireless work has driven this reform movement nationwide, and is supported by Pennsylvania Family Institute’s national partners at Family Policy Alliance.
The App Store Accountability Act is more than just good policy. This legislation would be a moral correction to years of digital neglect. The bill requires app stores to obtain verifiable parental consent before a child can download any app. By looping parents in at the point of download, it prevents kids from entering complex contracts and ensures parents have a chance to review the risks of every app before minors gain access.
It would also ensure that apps are accurately rated, stopping developers from gaming the system to reach younger users. In short, this bill brings parents back into the process, precisely when much of the digital world wants to push them out.
This federal effort is part of a broader, bipartisan movement to protect children in the digital age. Here in Pennsylvania, legislation has been introduced to require age verification for pornography websites:
- House Bill 1513, sponsored by State Reps. Jill Cooper (R-Westmoreland) and Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz (D-Berks), and
- Senate Bill 603, sponsored by Sens. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson) and Judy Ward (R-Blair).
At the same time, Governor Josh Shapiro has publicly called for stronger safeguards to protect children from the harms of artificial intelligence and supported efforts to remove cell phones from classrooms to reduce digital distraction and mental health strain.
The message is clear: protecting children online should not be partisan. It is common sense. The App Store Accountability Act is a practical, bipartisan solution that restores the proper balance of responsibility between families and tech companies. Both Congress and the Pennsylvania Legislature would be wise to act on this proposal quickly.
