PIERRE — A South Dakota House of Representatives panel has advanced a bill that would require mobile app stores to use age verification to restrict minors’ access to certain applications. House Bill 1275 passed the House State Affairs Committee 8-3 on Wednesday and is now headed to the House floor for further consideration.
The legislation marks the second attempt by South Dakota lawmakers in as many years to shift the responsibility of age-gating to app store providers. The bill mandates that app stores verify a user’s age and obtain parental consent before allowing a minor to download, install, or make in-app purchases.
Representative John Hughes, a Republican from Sioux Falls and the bill’s prime sponsor, framed the measure as a child protection initiative. “It establishes guardrails at the digital gateway,” Hughes said, arguing it would provide parents with a means to safeguard their children online.
The emergence of app-based age gating as an online safety measure is relatively recent, coinciding with increased discussion about protecting children in state legislatures across the country. South Dakota has previously enacted laws requiring age verification for access to online pornography.
The proposal has garnered support from companies like Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. However, Apple and Google, operators of the largest app stores in the U.S., have voiced opposition.
Supporters like Meta contend that app stores are better positioned to protect children, as they already serve as gatekeepers to content and often possess payment information that can be used for age verification. App stores, conversely, argue they already offer robust parental control features and that app developers should bear the responsibility for child safety.
Last year, a similar bill sponsored by Senator Sue Peterson of Sioux Falls failed to pass. At that time, no state had yet enacted app-based age-gating legislation. However, since then, Texas, Utah, Alabama, and Louisiana have all endorsed similar measures.
Norman Woods, representing Family Voice Action, highlighted this shift, stating, “The Legislature wasn’t comfortable going in first, but now We find four.”
The bill also has the backing of the South Dakota Attorney General’s office, Concerned Women for America, and the South Dakota Catholic Conference.
Opponents, including Doug Abraham, a lobbyist for The App Association, raised concerns about privacy. Abraham likened requiring age verification for apps with potential adult content to requiring it for entry into a shopping mall with a liquor store. He also warned that the bill could compel all South Dakotans to submit copies of their state-issued IDs to technology companies.
“It’s going to force you, if you want to use your iPhone, or you want to use your Android-based device, to do that, even though you’re 18, even though you’re a consenting adult,” Abraham argued.
He further asserted that the bill encroaches on parental rights, as app stores already provide tools for parents to manage their children’s app access. Kouri Marshall, a lobbyist for the tech coalition Chamber of Progress, characterized the bill as “a tremendous encroachment on individual privacy” and predicted it would lead to legal challenges for the state.
Alabama, which recently passed a similar bill, “is going straight to court,” Marshall said, to defend against a lawsuit alleging the rules violate the First Amendment. She suggested South Dakota should “wait and see how this plays out in court, so that you don’t end up there,” noting that Florida and Mississippi have rejected app-based age gating proposals.
Woods, representing Family Voice Action, countered claims that South Dakotans would need to share driver’s license data, asserting that credit card information is typically sufficient for age verification. Representative Leslie Heinemann, a Republican from Flandreau, argued that the potential legal costs are justified if the bill protects children from harmful content or predatory interactions. He drew a parallel to last year’s age verification law for adult websites, which he said garnered positive feedback from parents.
“I see it as a way to bring to the parents that we have a way of dealing with this issue on a large scale,” Heinemann said.
Representative Erin Healy, a Democrat from Sioux Falls, voiced her opposition, citing her own experience with parental controls. She described receiving an alert when her 13-year-old son searched online for information about former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. “I think that just shows the effort that can already be put into parental controls,” Healy said, explaining her vote against sending the bill to the full House.
