Parents Decide Act

This bill would require operating system providers to collect and verify the date of birth for all users, requiring parental or guardian consent for those under the age of 18. It proposes that providers create a system for app developers to access necessary age-verification data and mandates that the Federal Trade Commission establish regulations for data security and parental controls. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission would be responsible for enforcing these requirements and reporting to Congress on the implementation process.

This bill affects providers of operating systems for computers, mobile devices, and other general purpose computing devices, as well as application developers who require user age verification. It also impacts individual users of these operating systems, specifically requiring parents or legal guardians to verify the birth dates of users under the age of 18. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission is affected as the agency responsible for enforcing these requirements and issuing related regulations.

• Mandatory age verification for operating systems. Operating system providers must require users to provide their date of birth to set up and use an account. For users under the age of 18, a parent or legal guardian is required to verify the user's date of birth.
• Data sharing system for app developers. Providers of operating systems are required to develop a system that allows third-party app developers to access the information necessary to verify the ages of their own app users.
• FTC rulemaking and enforcement. The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing these requirements and issuing regulations regarding the verification of guardians, data security for collected information, and parental control over content for minors.
• Congressional oversight and reporting. The Federal Trade Commission must brief Congress on its rulemaking process and provide reports detailing how operating system providers are implementing the bill's requirements.

The bill grants the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) new enforcement and regulatory authority to oversee age-verification standards for operating system providers and app developers.

The bill aims to establish age-verification requirements for operating system providers to ensure that users under the age of 18 have their dates of birth verified by a parent or legal guardian. It also intends to provide parents and guardians with control over the content accessible to minors on computing devices and to facilitate secure age-verification data sharing between operating systems and app developers.