Peter Schorsch
Florida voters say parents should be in control of what apps their children use, and app stores should help them.
Polling conducted by the Tyson Group found 88% of Floridians support requiring app stores to obtain parental consent before minors can download apps. Among parents, support climbs to 93%, with 55% indicating intense support.
More than three quarters of voters said they would prefer a streamlined process for parents to approve app downloads rather than getting a ping for every app their child wants to download. Support climbed to 81% among parents.
The app store part of the equation is key, as voters said they have trust major storefront operators, such as Apple and Google, more than app makers to manage personal data and verify parental ID. There’s a two-to-one preference among all voters while four out of five parents prefer app store verification over a piecemeal approach.
Numerous states have introduced legislation to provide parents with more comprehensive tools to monitor and approve their children’s online activity. Utah became the first state to pass such legislation in February and it has since been signed into law.
Both Apple and Google have recently updated their child safety measures in an attempt to preempt legislation requiring app stores to offer tools they claim would provide better tools for parents, but key child safety organizations say Apple and Google’s changes don’t go far enough.
Legislation that would have enacted similar requirements in the Sunshine State was floated earlier this Session, but was not aligned with legislation passed in Utah.
With such strong voter support, however, the policy is likely to make a return in 2026, an election year, and will likely be championed by Sen. Erin Grall that closely resembles Utah’s already passed App Store Accountability Act. Notably, 88% of voters and 94% of voters who are parents said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported app store-based parental consent legislation.
