House Bill 161 Alabama 2026 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Chris SellsRepresentative

Republican

Session

2026 Regular Session

Title

Consumer protection, app store providers and developers required to take certain actions related to age verification and parental consent, Attorney General authorized to bring action for violations as deceptive trade practice, parents authorized to bring civil action

Summary

HB161 would require Alabama app stores and developers to verify minors' ages, obtain verifiable parental consent, protect age data, and empower enforcement by the Attorney General and parents for violations.

What This Bill Does

The bill requires app store providers to request and verify the age category of Alabama users at account creation, and to complete verification for all accounts existing as of October 2, 2026 by October 1, 2027. If a minor is involved, the provider must affiliate the minor with a verified parent account and obtain verifiable parental consent before the minor can download apps or make purchases, with a mechanism to withdraw consent. It also requires real-time sharing of age category data and parental-consent status with developers, imposes data-protection standards, and authorizes enforcement by the Attorney General with civil penalties for violations, effective January 1, 2027.

Who It Affects

• Minors in Alabama (and their parents/guardians): minors face age-based access controls; parental consent is required for downloads, purchases, and in-app purchases; parents can withdraw consent and must be notified about significant app changes.
• App store providers and developers operating in Alabama: must implement age-verification and parental-consent systems, share age data and consent status with developers, protect verification data, and comply with enforcement provisions and penalties.

Key Provisions

• App stores must request and verify the age category of Alabama account holders, using commercially available methods or an approved verification system, with full implementation for existing accounts by October 1, 2027 (accounts existing as of October 2, 2026).
• If a minor is identified, the account must be affiliated with a parent account, and the minor may not download apps or make purchases until verifiable parental consent is obtained; a mechanism to withdraw parental consent must exist.
• Providers must notify users and, for minor accounts, notify the affiliated parent account about significant changes to apps; renewed parental consent is required before access to significantly changed versions for minors.
• App stores must provide developers with real-time access to a user’s age category data and the status of verifiable parental consent for minors in Alabama.
• Age verification data must be protected by limiting collection to what is necessary and using industry-standard encryption to transmit and store data.
• Pre-installed apps must have age-category information available to developers and must take reasonable steps to facilitate verifiable parental consent for their use.
• Providers cannot enforce contracts or terms against a minor without verifiable parental consent, cannot misrepresent parental-consent disclosures, and cannot share age-category data beyond what is required by law or this act between stores and developers.
• Developers must verify user age category through store data sharing methods, notify providers of significant app changes, and limit the use of age-category data to enforce age-related restrictions, ensure compliance, or implement safety features; they may request age-category data or parental consent only in specified scenarios (e.g., account creation, downloads, purchases, first app launch).
• Violations constitute deceptive trade practices; the Attorney General has exclusive jurisdiction to file actions, may seek up to $7,500 per violation plus attorney fees and costs, and punitive damages for patterns of conduct; actions must be brought within one year of knowledge of the violation.
• The act includes safe-harbor protections for developers who rely in good faith on age-category data and store-reported parental consent, while clarifying these protections do not limit liability under other laws; an erroneous age signal may still be defended if reasonable verification steps were taken.
• The Act takes effect January 1, 2027.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 13, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Consumer Protection