Imagine a world where children can stroll into a liquor store, strip club, or cannabis dispensary and make purchases simply by tapping a checkbox on a screen that says, “I’m old enough to be here.” No ID. No questions. Not even a bouncer who can look them in the eye and say, “Hold it right there, kid.”
In the real world, that would be absurd. But this has been the status quo online for decades. And rather than fix this problem, a new California law has enshrined it in state statute. The Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 13, 2025, was hailed by the governor as a victory for “children’s safety” and a model for “new and emerging technologies.” He even declared, “Our children’s safety is not for sale.” That might be true, because California just gave it away for free.
There’s a reason Big Tech companies, including OpenAI, Grindr, Google, Meta, Snapchat, Reddit, and Roblo3 have lined up behind this particular brand of “child safety” legislation. It lets them off the hook for virtually any harm their platforms cause to minors while putting the entire burden of digital protection on parents and children. The bill’s sponsor has already said she hopes it will become “a de facto national standard.” If that happens, it won’t be a win for families. It will be a disaster.
Under AB 1043, the age a user enters during device setup becomes the default signal apps must use to determine whether they are treated as an adult. If an app wants to block minors from pornography, sexually explicit AI chatbots, dating platforms, or data-harvesting services, a child can simply claim to be 18, and the app is required to accept that age unless it has strong proof otherwise. That single self-reported entry is treated as legally binding. Tech companies insist they are powerless to intervene, and that is exactly how they like it.
Research shows that about 30 percent of minors lie about their age online. Rather than modernizing safety standards, AB 1043 codifies a 20-year-old system designed for dial-up chat rooms. It predates today’s app economy and ignores everything we now know about how children actually use technology. The result is convenience for Big Tech and risk for kids.
For unsupervised kids over 13, roughly half of all teens, the loophole becomes especially easy to exploit. Once they realize there is content they cannot access, they can simply open their device settings, change their birthdate, and instantly become “adults.” In some cases, the device may even prompt the child to claim they are an adult.
AB 1043 gives companies broad legal cover to treat minors as adults unless there is “clear and convincing evidence” otherwise, effectively allowing a child’s self-declared age to count as legally binding. By treating a stated age as actual knowledge, the law expands on the already weak federal standard, which only requires action when companies know a user is under 13. As a result, if a child lies about their age and is harmed, the responsibility falls solely on the child, and companies bear no accountability.
Even worse, AB 1043 doesn’t just fail to verify age; it effectively removes parents from the equation entirely. The law doesn’t require any informed parental consent for downloads or in-app purchases. It allows children to install apps that can track their location, connect them with strangers, or access their camera and microphone, all without a parent’s knowledge. It’s worth remembering that children can’t legally enter binding contracts, yet this law allows them to “agree” to app terms of service that few lawyers fully understand.
A final, critical weakness lies in how the law handles, or rather fails to handle, app ratings. AB 1043 does nothing to ensure that ratings or safety disclosures are accurate or easily visible to parents. Developers often self-rate their apps, and many downplay mature content. Even adults struggle to tell which apps include sexual material, gambling, or predatory chat features. The law makes sweeping promises about accountability but provides no mechanism to verify those claims or penalize deception.
In other words, AB 1043 goes to great lengths to shield tech companies from liability if they say they are trying. That is often little more than window dressing. And it leaves families without any means to hold those companies accountable when those efforts inevitably fail.
When you contrast California’s hands-off approach with the App Store Accountability Act, passed in Utah and Texas, the difference is night and day. The ASAA requires real age verification, parental affiliation for minors’ accounts, and visible, accurate content ratings. That is the kind of law that has teeth, and you can tell because Big Tech hates it.
Google lobbied Utah’s governor to veto it. Apple’s Tim Cook personally called Texas Governor Abbott, requesting a veto. Apparently, expecting billion-dollar companies to meet the same verification standards as a corner liquor store, title company, or bank is too much to ask. Yet that is exactly the standard parents and voters want.
For all the talk of “innovation” and “trust,” California’s tech giants no longer just influence policy; they write it. This law doesn’t protect children. It protects these companies’ power.
Melissa McKay
Senior Fellow, Family Policy Alliance
Shane Morris, Acquisitions Editor at Crossway