How will it work?

The company wants app stores to require such permission before people under 16 download any app. This would actually put more responsibility on parents and partly on Google and Apple (as owners of the Play Market and App Store).

Parents must approve their children’s app downloads, and we support federal legislation requiring app stores to obtain parental consent for apps downloaded by children under 16.
– wrote Meta Security Manager Antigona Davis.

The company is proposing a plan where app stores would notify parents when teens want to download something, just as a child wants to buy something on their smartphone. Parents can approve or reject this request.

A coalition of 42 states and the District of Columbia is currently suing Meta over its alleged harm to young people, citing in part the findings of former company employee Frances Haugen. At the time, he presented a series of documents to the media and authorities showing that Meta knew about the harm caused by social media, leading to addiction and self-esteem issues, but failed to act. There are also separate lawsuits in which a Connecticut mother whose 11-year-old daughter killed herself blames social media platforms Meta and Snapchat.

Plaintiffs say the companies’ teen protection and parental controls don’t work or don’t work well enough, so social networks need to do more.