S. 4349 — Parents Over Platforms Act

This section establishes responsibilities for application distribution providers (i.e., entities such as app stores), requiring them to (1) ask account holders to declare their age upon account creation; (2) use commercially reasonable efforts, if chosen, to obtain the account holder's age category with reasonable certainty; (3) provide, if chosen, a mechanism for account holders to access their age category and request updates; and (4) enable developers of covered applications to access an age signal if the account holder or parent consents. This section further clarifies that these requirements do not preclude providers from using multiple age-determination methods or obtaining a minor's age from a parent.

This section establishes obligations for application distribution providers (e.g., app stores) and developers of covered applications to protect minor users. Specifically, it requires application distribution providers to (1) enable parents of minor account holders to block minors from acquiring or using covered applications; (2) host a centralized page for developers to disclose parental controls; (3) comply with developer obligations if also serving as the developer; and (4) refrain from using third-party compliance data anti-competitively. It further requires developers to (1) report if applications differ for adults versus minors or are adults-only; (2) provide parents with privacy and safety settings information; (3) use commercially reasonable efforts (including age signals from distributors) to identify minors; (4) block minors from adults-only activities; (5) obtain consent for minors' access to unsuitable or age-gated content; and (6) prohibit personalized advertising to minors, with limits on age data collection, sharing, and use. Special rules allow reliance on age determinations under common control and extend developer obligations to covered websites, which may repurpose app-derived age signals.

This section establishes limitations on liability for application distribution providers and developers in complying with the Act's age signal requirements. Specifically, it provides that an application distribution provider making a good faith compliance effort (as determined by the Commission or a court, considering available technology) is not liable under the Act or otherwise for (1) any erroneous age signal; (2) conduct by a developer of a covered application that receives an age signal; (3) failing to provide an age signal due to reasonable technical limitations or outages; or (4) not providing an age signal to developers not adhering to reasonable safety standards and provider policies. For developers, it (1) assigns sole responsibility for identifying covered applications, relieving distribution providers of proactive identification duties or liability for developers' inaccurate information; and (2) exempts developers from liability for erroneous age signals from providers if the developer makes reasonable efforts, considering available technology, to use the signal properly and obtain or estimate account holder age via commercially reasonable methods.

This section provides the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with authority to enforce this Act by treating violations of the Act or its regulations as unfair or deceptive acts or practices under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). It applies to the FTC the same enforcement jurisdiction, powers, duties, penalties, privileges, and immunities as under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) and preserves the Commission's authority under other laws.

This section preempts any state or political subdivision law, rule, regulation, requirement, standard, or other provision related to this Act.

This section establishes a severability clause, providing that if any provision of the Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the Act remains in effect.