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The search giant says its legislative framework to protect children online is a better choice than Meta’s.
Google has said that the legislative online child safety proposals of companies such as Meta do little more than “offload their own responsibilities” to keep children safe online.
Most proposals presented so far rely upon blanket requirements for app stores to share children’s age data with all developers using that app store, using the US state of Utah’s App Store Accountability Act as an example.
As Google notes while outlining its own age assurance proposal, not all apps are equal in this regard, and while the developer of a weather app, for instance, does not need to know if children are accessing their app, social media developers do have a responsibility in this regard.
According to Google, this level of sharing is unnecessary and raises privacy issues, as the age data would be shared without parental consent.
“As written, however, the bill helps social media companies avoid that responsibility despite the fact that apps are just one of many ways that kids can access these platforms,” Google said in a 12 March blog post.
“And by requiring app stores to obtain parental consent for every single app download, it dictates how parents supervise their kids and potentially cuts teens off from digital services like educational or navigation apps.”
What Google proposes, on the other hand, is that only developers whose apps may potentially cause harm to minors will require industry standard age signals, and only when consent from a child – or their parent – is given. In addition, only the bare minimum age assurance data would be shared.
Developers can then use that age signal to ensure that appropriate safety measures are in place for those who need them.
“Because developers know their apps best, they are best positioned to determine when and where an age-gate might be beneficial to their users, and that may evolve over time, which is another reason why a one-size-fits-all approach won’t adequately protect kids,” Google said.
Google’s proposal also stipulates that age signals are used responsibly and that ads specifically targeting children be banned “as an industry standard”. Google’s proposal would also provide parents with a centralised dashboard for managing the online activities of their children and for developers to integrate with.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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