By: Todd Dallas Lamb
For more than two decades, I have worked at the intersection of education, public policy, and child well-being. During my time, I have seen schools and families adapt to drastic cultural and technological change. But nothing has evolved more rapidly than the digital world we live in now.
Today, parents are being asked to navigate an online ecosystem that even many experts still struggle to understand. Social media platforms, gaming apps, messaging services, livestreams, algorithmic recommendations, and AI-driven content are constantly evolving. Yet many policymakers continue proposing solutions that place burden of responsibility on parents.
That is why legislation like the Parents Over Platform Ap, while well-intentioned, ultimately misses the mark.
When I worked at the U.S. Department of Education, I was stunned to learn how much America pays for that most basic need for students: food. Americans pay up to $30B per year on free and reduced breakfast and lunch, because we are a compassionate country, one that understands the working and financial struggles some families navigate. And now we want to put more work upon them with regard to something as complicated as technology?
Parents play a critical role in guiding their children online. But no realistic policy solution can assume that families alone have the time, technical expertise, or ability to monitor every app, every platform, every update, and every hidden feature embedded within today’s digital marketplace.
POPA risks creating the illusion of accountability while allowing the companies that control the digital ecosystem to avoid meaningful responsibility.
A more effective approach is the App Store Accountability Act.
Unlike app-by-app regulation (POPA), the App Store Accountability Act recognizes where the true gatekeepers already exist: Apple and Google. These companies already manage app distribution, account systems, payment verification, device permissions, parental controls, and age ratings. They are already positioned to implement safeguards across the entire app ecosystem.
Requiring app stores to verify age, obtain parental consent, and provide standardized content information from one place, The App Store, creates a centralized and practical framework that families can rely on.
Just as importantly, it avoids forcing every individual developer, including small companies and educational platforms, to create separate age-verification systems. Families do not need fifty different safety systems across fifty different apps. They need one trusted, understandable place to manage digital access.
As someone who has spent years working alongside educators, parents, school systems, and educational advocates, I have seen firsthand how overwhelmed families already feel. The answer cannot be to tell parents to “work harder” while the platforms themselves continue operating with minimal accountability.
Parents deserve support. Children deserve meaningful protections. And policymakers should focus reforms where they can be enforced at scale. The internet is not the same place it was ten years ago, and our policy solutions cannot remain stuck there either.
Todd Dallas Lamb is a former Special Assistant to the President – U.S. Department of Education. 2001-2004
Photo Provided by: Successfulblackparenting.com, Article:
“Staying Safe on the Internet: A Guide for Kids and Parents in the Digital Age”
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