Meta deflects child harm inquiry by pointing to Apple and Google app stores

As US Senate began looking at the firm's failures to shield children, it called for laws requiring parental approval of app downloads

Meta called on US lawmakers on Wednesday to regulate Google and Apple's app stores to better protect children, the same day that the Senate began investigating Meta's failures to shield children using its platforms.

In a blogpost titled Parenting in a Digital World Is Hard. Congress Can Make It Easier, Antigone Davis, Meta's global head of safety, called for federal legislation that would mandate app stores to notify parents whenever a child between the age of 13 and 16 downloads an app, and would solicit the parents' approval. Children under 13 are already prohibited from creating accounts and downloading apps without a parent's go-ahead.