Oppose the Florida App Store Accountability Act
Time to Read: 7 min
Alrighty, we have have a new worst bill for digital rights in the 2026 Florida legislative session: the Florida App Store Accountability Act. This is a bill that would require all users, regardless of whether they are minors or adults, to verify their identity in order to use the app store on their phone - the most basic function of 21st century living. Call your state lawmakers and tell them that you oppose SB 1722, the Florida App Store Accountability Act.
More information and calls to action at the bottom of this post, for those of you who already understand why this bill is bad news.
Why Age Verification is Bad
We've explained why age verification is bad in our blog post covering the AI age verification bills also being considered this session.
To summarize, age verification is bad because it ties your real life identity to the account you're using for the app or service you want to be on.
In order to verify your age, you have to provide biometric data or other sensitive information that likely has your legal name.
Because the developer doesn't know the age of a user until they have that information, all users must identify themselves.
Once your identity is given to the app or service, there is no guarantee that your identity won't be tied to that app or service indefinitely, forever tying all activity on that software to you specifically.
There would be no privacy whatsoever from the app or service you are trying to use, and there may be nothing you could do to protect your information once you've given it away.
You are now at the mercy of that company, any companies or parties they sell that data to, any vendors they share the data with, any hackers who obtain that information, and any governments who would like to spy on your for whatever reason.
Age Verifying to Use the App Store is Dramatically Worse
Unlike in the case of the AI chatbot age verification bills, there would be no escape. If age verification passes for using AI chatbots, then you could preserve your privacy by not using those platforms.
However, good luck avoiding the need of downloading Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Instagram, banking apps, productivity tools, games, Amazon, anything! Unless you are going to only use the apps that come preinstalled on the phone, you are trapped. Every Floridian - because everyone has a smartphone these days - will have to submit to the surveillance apparatus that SB 1722 would require just so that we can get back to our regular lives.
Furthermore, we are talking about smartphones and tablets - categories of devices which are already some of the most locked down in computing history.
Apple has never allowed a way to install apps except through the App Store. You can't just download something from a website and call it a day. On iPhones and iPads, there is no other option but to use the App Store.
Google historically has been more open, and to its credit. On Android, you can install third party app stores that respect consumers and their privacy more, as well as provide competition to the Google Play Store. Then Google lost to Epic Games in court over their claimed monopoly on Android app distribution. In short order Google sought to block the sideloading of unverified apps and only recently backed down due to developer and user backlash - people who wanted to protect their privacy from Google!
All of this is to say that the only way that you are going to do anything remotely helpful with your smart device is through downloading apps from the only app store you will probably get. Again, all Floridians would be trapped and unable to make any other choice.
Lastly, the smartphone is the most personal device we have in our modern age. It knows everything about us, and through it we are known by all of the apps and services that we use. As in the case of verifying your age to use an AI chatbot, where all of your chatting is tied to your real identity, now everything you do on your phone would be in that category.
Broadly speaking, the apps you download, what you do in those apps, who you associate with through these apps, potentially what you're saying, what content you're consuming, your live location, and any other personal details that live or are captured through your device will irrevocably be tied to your identity. And remember that you're carrying around a camera and microphone everywhere you go.
Fifth Time's the Charm?
To our knowledge, this is actually the fifth App Store Accountability Act that's making the rounds. Texas led the charge, joined by Utah and Louisiana, and a federal version of this law is making its way through Congress.
Once Apple and Google announced the first murmurs of compliance, they correctly identified that age verification would reduce the privacy of all users. Soon after, a lobby group that represents them filed a lawsuit to stop it. "The Texas App Store Accountability Act imposes a broad censorship regime on the entire universe of mobile apps," said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. They were joined by another lawsuit by a student advocacy group and two Texas minors on the same grounds. These types of laws are a violation of the First Amendment.
The judge promptly blocked the Texas law, so much so that Apple paused their development of technology to address this. Based on the opinion of observers of this case, it seems unlikely Texas will win this suit.
In fact, confidence is high around the free speech implications of these laws at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a prominent digital rights advocacy group in the US. As they share in their age verification informational hub:
Laws that lock lawful content to both adults and minors behind age gates can almost never withstand First Amendment scrutiny ā they violate all usersā rights to access information, often impinge on peopleās right to anonymity, and exacerbate data security risks.
Furthermore the EFF says that "courts will rightly continue to strike down similar age verification and content-blocking laws, as theyāve done for decades," referring to many cases that have already ruled in favor of protecting speech and privacy.
So after all this effort of Florida trying to install a system that will spy on all Floridians and infringe on free speech rights, there is a possibility that the judicial branch will undo it all as incompatible with the expectation of freedom we have in America.
This is supposed to serve as a validation for us who care about our right to privacy and free speech, and as a deterrent to the legislators that want to push us down this road. However, we cannot gamble with our freedom by deciding to not act.
Call to Action
The Florida Legislature's regular session runs from January 13 to March 13. By law the session runs for only 60 days. We have less than that to pressure our Florida lawmakers to oppose this bill.
This is how you can take action:
- Call your elected representatives in the Florida House and Senate and tell them you oppose the Florida App Store Accountability Act, SB 1722. Voicemails count! Find your Florida rep here and your Florida senator here.
- Email your elected representatives. You can share a link to this blog post to provide more information!
- Share the news with friends, family, news outlets, and any content creators who you think would cover an issue like this.
- Follow us on social media as we follow news about this bill. Be ready to take more action!
- If you're up to it, set a reminder to call again the next day. And the next day. And the next day. The more pressure we can put on our representatives, the better.
Use the following script for your call or email if it helps you. Feel free to add or change anything.
Hi, my name is your_town, and my ZIP code is $your_zip_code.
I'm calling to oppose SB 1722, the Florida App Store Accountability Act.
This bill will do nothing but require all Floridians to submit personally identifiable information over to Apple and Google, and have our real identities tied to everything we do on our phones. Our speech and access to information would be censored in the short-term and long-term.
I do not want to be spied on from the most personal device I own just to do basic tasks that I have to do every day. I do not want to live in a surveillance state.
Please tell the representative/senator to oppose SB 1722 and protect Floridians' freedom and privacy.
Thank you for your time.
Hopefully we can start to pump the breaks on all of these bad ideas and refocus lawmakers and the public on a positive vision of technology where we're free AND safe.
Additional Resources
EFF - Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub
Techlore - Texas Age Verification Starts Jan 1: ID Required for ALL Apps
Techlore - Big Tech Just Sued Texas Over Age Verification Law (We Called It)
Techlore - Federal Court Just Dealt a Major Blow to Age Verification Laws
Techlore - Age Verification Spreads: UK, Florida, and the End of Privacy
Written by Joseph, Organizer for MTEC
Enthusiast and advocate for digital privacy and security, as well as free and open source software. Hobbyist. Wants to see the world get better.
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