Age-Verification Mandates: Constitutional Concerns and Policy Pitfalls
In a recent post, my International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) colleague Ben Sperry explored the First Amendment implications of Rep. John James’ (R-Mich.) proposal to mandate app stores either verify users’ ages and or obtain parental consent for users who are minors. While that analysis provided a solid foundation for understanding the constitutional issues at-play, it’s crucial to delve deeper into why such laws are almost certainly not the least-restrictive means to protect children online. Further, these constitutional infirmities demonstrate why this is likely to be a counterproductive public policy, even if it could survive judicial scrutiny.
Age-verification and parental-consent mandates not only raise significant First Amendment concerns, but also present a host of practical challenges that could undermine their effectiveness and potentially create new risks for users of all ages.