The State Circler

By: Sara Leber – January 3rd, 2026 12:25pm

_{Image of a collage of social media apps that many of those in the younger generation use.}

There seems to be one thing that most kids tend to have now and that is social media accounts. With that, comes not only the risk of your child seeing inappropriate content but the exposure to online predators. As social media has become our typical everyday norm, so have the negative effects of the platforms. 

In response, companies like Instagram/Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Apple, Amazon and others have presented parental supervision tools that would create time limits, see how much time their child spends on a certain app but there are still worries that these aren’t enough for parents to make sure their child is safe online. 

To help ensure a child’s safety online, Smarter Regulation is working on resolutions to keep young adults safe online. Smarter Regulation is working on creating third-party support and producing advocacy for the App Store Accountability Act, introduced by the U.S. Rep. John James and Sen. Mike Lee. This act will require a user to verify their age on the app store and then requires a parent’s approval for download. 

Some examples of the key provisions of this bill include: App stores must verify a users’ ages when they create accounts, the users’ who are under 18 need to have parental consent before downloading an app or making an in-app purchase, app stores must alert parents when teens try to download an app.

The sole purpose of this act is to protect children. As someone who has had social media since elementary school, an act like this should have been put in action a while ago. The App Store has allowed children of all ages to download and use platforms for way too long. It is time that this changes. I wish when I got my first phone in 5th grade, that there would have been some sort of protection like this act.

For the sake of our own children and the future generations, it is important that we contact members of congress and encourage them to support the App Store Accountability Act. Supporting this act will allow us to have power over our future. To protect the ones we love, it’s important this act becomes a law.