Utah has become the first state to make app stores responsible for verifying users’ ages. The Utah App Store Accountability Act shifts the burden of proving one’s age from social platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and X to digital storefronts, namely Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Those who create accounts in the state will have to prove they’re over 18 or, if underage, link their account to a parent or guardian’s. Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law on Wednesday and it begins taking effect May 7. Google opposed the legislation and lobbied the governor to veto it. Meta, X and Snap applauded the measure and are encouraging other states to follow suit.

“The App Store Accountability Act, or S.B. 142, could also kick off a wave of other states, including South Carolina and California, passing similar legislation,” according to CNBC.

At a January 2024 Congressional hearing on child safety where Mark Zuckerberg appeared alongside X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, the Meta CEO argued that app stores, not social platforms, should be in charge of age verification.

More recently, CNBC says Meta’s position has evolved to a policy strategy “to shift antitrust scrutiny onto Apple,” describing passage of the Utah law as “the latest shot in a long-running skirmish” between the two companies that dates to 2021, when Apple implemented a privacy feature that required user consent for ad tracking on iPhones.

“This approach spares users from repeatedly submitting personal information to countless individual apps and online services,” Meta, Snap and X said in a joint statement. Bill sponsor Todd Weiler, a state senator, says the app stores can verify age using credit cards.

Though neither Apple nor Google immediately responded to enactment of the new Utah law, Google wrote in a March 12 blog post that “there are a variety of fast-moving legislative proposals being pushed by Meta and other companies in an effort to offload their own responsibilities to keep kids safe.”

CNBC writes that Apple feels it “makes the most sense for apps themselves to do age verification, and that due to privacy reasons, it doesn’t want to collect the data needed for age verification.”

Engadget reports “it seems likely” the new law “will face legal challenges,” adding that “digital privacy groups have opposed the law and others like it, noting security concerns about how sensitive age verification data will be used or protected.”