Senate Bill 172 Alabama 2026 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

J.T. WaggonerSenator

Republican

Session

2026 Regular Session

Title

Consumer protection; software applications, age appropriateness, rules established for app developers and app distribution providers, civil penalties established

Summary

SB172 would require app stores and app developers to verify ages, share age signals, and enforce age-appropriate experiences with enforcement by the Attorney General and civil penalties.

What This Bill Does

App store operators must ask account holders to declare their age during account creation and provide age signals to developers of covered applications. App stores must provide account holders and their parents with information and tools related to age signals and age-appropriate content. Developers of covered applications must report whether their apps offer different experiences for adults vs minors, provide tools to help parents supervise minors, use reasonable efforts to determine age, limit minor access to adult-only content, obtain parental consent for restricted content, and refrain from advertising to minors. The Attorney General would enforce the act and may impose civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation; the act includes liability limitations and becomes effective January 1, 2027.

Who It Affects

• App store operators and operating system providers: must implement age declarations, shareage signals with developers, provide parental information/tools, and comply with the act or face penalties.
• Developers of covered applications: must disclose age-based differences, support parental controls, determine user age with reasonable effort, obtain parental consent for minor access to restricted content, and limit use of age signals and advertising to minors.

Key Provisions

• Defines key terms: Adult, Minor, Age Signal, Age Category, Covered Application, App Store, App Store Operator, Developer, and Connected Device.
• App store operators must (a) ask for age at account creation, (b) provide age signals to developers with consent, (c) enable parental controls and provide information to account holders/parents, (d) disclose parental controls for covered apps, (e) ensure compliance if the operator is also the developer, and (f) avoid anti-competitive use of data.
• App store operators may use commercially reasonable methods to obtain age category and provide mechanisms for updating age as needed; they may obtain minor age data from a parent when appropriate.
• Developers of covered applications must report whether their apps treat adults and minors differently, provide parental support tools, determine age with reasonable certainty, restrict adult-only activities for minors, obtain parental consent for minors, and refrain from delivering advertising to minors.
• If developers access age signals, they must request minimal information, avoid disregarding age data, limit sharing to service providers when necessary, and restrict use of the signal to purposes allowed by the act.
• Liability: app stores and OS providers are not liable for certain good-faith compliance actions or errors in age signals; developers are primarily liable for correctly identifying whether their app is covered.
• Enforcement: the Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority; there is no private right of action, and civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation.
• Effective date: January 1, 2027.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 12, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Consumer Protection