On behalf of the Developers Alliance, a leading advocate for developers, the companies they build, and the industries that rely on them, we write to express concerns about House Bill 161 and strongly urge the Alabama Senate not to pass it.
We believe protecting children online is the responsibility of every developer and platform, and that parents should be empowered to make decisions about their kids’ online experiences. However, while HB 161 aims to protect children, it is not the most effective approach and introduces broad mandates that would hurt developers who build safe, educational, and age-appropriate apps.
HB 161 applies a one-size-fits-all model that requires developers to receive age signals for every user who downloads their app. It also requires parental consent for every app downloaded by a minor, regardless of the app’s purpose or the experience it provides users, even though most (65%) apps are designed for users of all ages. In this way, an educational math game is treated the same as a potentially dangerous social media platform. At the same time, HB 161 fails to require age verification for websites, which can pose serious risks to children and are just as easy to access.
Additionally, the bill’s blanket approach would saddle small developers with massive data processing and storage costs, regardless of whether they want to know their users’ ages. When app store providers send age signals to developers, they must now process, store, and secure this data, which is extremely expensive and time-consuming, especially for small teams. In fact, two in three (66%) developers estimate that yearly compliance costs would exceed $10,000.These are unnecessary costs that age-appropriate apps should not be forced to bear.
HB 161’s approval mandate is also unnecessary because parents already have the option to require their approval for their kids’ downloads. Beyond parents and guardians, the bill places unrealistic responsibility on app store providers and developers to verify ages and parental relationships. Since many children do not have government-issued IDs, current online systems cannot reliably confirm whether the person providing consent is truly a parent or guardian.
Furthermore, this bill would significantly restrict the growth of app businesses and limit kids’ access to beneficial content. If every app download requires approval, guardians will fall behind or ignore notifications, making it harder for even the most age-appropriate apps to grow.
The Developers Alliance supports thoughtful age verification policies for apps that pose risks to children. However, HB 161 would create loopholes and a blanket approach that would unfairly burden developers of small, age-appropriate apps. We strongly urge the Alabama Senate not to pass HB 161.
Sincerely,
Jake Ward
Chair, Developers Alliance
