After 40 years practicing law, first as a public defender in Los Angeles, then in private criminal defense, and serving eight years as the elected District Attorney for Colorado’s 5th Judicial District, I’ve developed a straightforward test for evaluating any proposed legislation: does it accomplish its stated goal and does it pass constitutional muster?

The App Store Accountability Act clears both bars and is a common-sense solution congressional sponsors should be commended for bringing forth.

Let me start with the constitutional question, because that’s where my mind goes first. Throughout my career, I’ve watched well-intentioned laws crumble under legal challenge because legislators prioritized political messaging over sound legal drafting. Online safety legislation has been particularly vulnerable to First Amendment challenges, with courts striking down content-based restrictions that amount to government deciding what speech is appropriate and by whom.

The App Store Accountability Act avoids these problems entirely. It doesn’t restrict speech content or tell platforms what they can or cannot host. It simply requires app stores to verify a user’s age and obtain parental consent before minors download apps. Parents then decide what’s appropriate for their own children. That’s not government censorship, that’s empowering families to make their own choices.

Courts have consistently upheld parental consent requirements in other contexts precisely because they reinforce parental authority rather than substitute government judgment. The bill puts decision-making where it belongs: with parents, not regulators or platform executives.

Any solution that requires parents to become technology experts or navigate complicated systems across dozens of apps is dead on arrival. The App Store Accountability Act works through infrastructure parents already use. Age verification happens one time by a parent when the phone is set up, not repeatedly across every platform.

What makes this bill work is it doesn’t ask much of anyone except the app stores themselves, and they already have the infrastructure to do it. Apple and Google require parental approval for purchases, meaning implementation would be easy. This bill just extends that same system to downloads. There is no new technology, or learning curve, no additional burden on families.

I’ve also examined competing proposals in Congress, and the contrast is stark. Some bills, like the Parents over Platforms Act, would require some apps to determine a user’s age on its own, or accept a user’s “stated age” at the app store. For starters, “stated age” means kids can outright lie about how old they are and access whatever content they want, and app by app age verification would mean children’s personal information gets scattered across many companies instead of being held securely in one place. Criminals exploit hacked information every day and use it to steal the identities and money of millions of victims every year. Multiplying the number of entities holding sensitive information about children is exactly the wrong direction. The fewer places that data lives, the fewer opportunities for it to be stolen, sold, or misused.

We can protect young people from harm in a way that also respects their data and privacy. The best solutions accomplish their goals while respecting legal boundaries and working for ordinary people. Colorado’s congressional delegation should support the App Store Accountability Act because it meets that standard. It protects children, empowers parents, respects the Constitution and keeps family data secure. That’s a combination worth passing.

Bruce Brown served as the elected district attorney for Colorado’s 5th Judicial District from 2013 to 2021.