United StatesH.R. 3149, App Store Accountability Act (federal)
In committee, dated , as of .
An app store age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- Audit expectation
- none
Where it has got to
The text described here is H.R. 3149 as introduced in the House. That print is H.R.3149 IH, published .
Locally, this stage is forwarded, as amended, by the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade to the full Committee on Energy and Commerce, by voice vote.
The stage above is recorded at www.congress.gov.
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade on . The Subcommittee held a markup on and forwarded the bill, as amended, to the full Committee by voice vote the same day. A further Committee meeting was noted for , but the docket's own latest recorded action is still the forwarding, and no amended print has been published, so the introduced text is the latest public version.
What it requires
- Applies to a covered app store provider, one with 5,000,000 or more United States users, and to app developers distributing through such stores.
- As a covered app store provider, verify a user's age category.
- For a minor, obtain verifiable parental consent before the minor may download or purchase an app or make an in-app purchase.
- As an app developer, rely on the app store's age-category signal and honor its parental-consent status.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Federal Trade Commission (proposed); state attorneys general (proposed)
Settledness
Section 5(a) of the bill directs the Commission to issue compliance guidance not later than 1 year after the date of enactment.
- As of
- Open questions
- Are the 'users in the United States' that must 'exceed 5,000,000' for a person to be a covered app store provider under section 2(8) counted as registered accounts, monthly active users or downloading devices, and over what period?
- Does a person that supplies only a mobile operating system or a device, and no storefront of its own, 'own or control' an 'app store' within section 2(8) when third-party stores can be installed on it?
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Covered services
App store operators with 5,000,000 or more United States users, and the app developers distributing through them.
How the hook was established
express
What makes it apply
Market targeting
Verification methods
Digital ID, Device signal, Self declaration
What it makes you log
Who may demand the log
Counterparty
What the log must hold
Age assurance result, Consent or opt-out state
Log retention
Section 3(a)(6)(A) sets no retention period.
- As of
- Basis
- Purpose bound
- Prohibits retaining
- Personal data related to age verification beyond what is strictly necessary to verify a user's age, obtain verifiable parental consent or maintain compliance records
Logging duty
The bill orders no log of age checks by name. Section 3(a)(6)(A) lets a covered app store provider collect, process and store age verification data only as strictly necessary to verify age, obtain verifiable parental consent or maintain compliance records, and Section 3(a)(4) and (8) require it to pass each user's age category and parental consent status to developers, which cannot be done without keeping them. As introduced.
- Kind
- Implicit
- As of
- Provision
- H.R. 3149, Section 3(a)(6)(A)
- Trigger
- age_assurance
What this law does
Would require a covered app store provider (one with 5,000,000 or more United States users) to verify a user's age category and, for a minor, obtain verifiable parental consent before the minor may download or purchase an app or make an in-app purchase, and would require an app developer to rely on the app store's age-category signal and honor its parental-consent status.
Preempts state app store age-verification laws and designates the Federal Trade Commission as primary enforcer, with state attorneys general also authorized to sue. Forwarded, as amended, by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade to the full Committee on ; the full Committee has not reported it as of September 2026.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates an app store.
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