Meta published a blog post arguing that age verification should be centralised at the app-store level rather than enforced by individual social media platforms. The company said Apple and Google already collect age information during device setup for teenagers and could extend that mechanism to require parental approval before any app is downloaded.
The proposal is practical, well-reasoned and conveniently shifts the compliance burden onto someone else.
The argument
Meta's case rests on three points. Most teenagers do not carry government-issued identification, making traditional age verification difficult. Asking users to upload sensitive documents to every social media app creates privacy and security risks, particularly for smaller platforms without the resources to store that data safely. And platform-by-platform enforcement produces inconsistent results that teenagers bypass by migrating to unmonitored apps and gaming sites.
The company pointed to Australia's under-16 social media ban as evidence that standalone legislation produces unintended consequences. Some Australian teens have circumvented the restrictions and moved to platforms with no age verification at all.
App stores, Meta argued, are already the single access point for every app on a phone. If Apple and Google required parental approval at download, the device itself would function as a checkpoint, verifying age once rather than asking every app to do it independently.
Broad support
Meta cited polling showing 85% of American parents, 82% of Australian parents and nearly 75% of parents across eight European countries support app-store verification. Match Group, X, Snap and Pinterest have endorsed the approach. More than half of US states have introduced app-store age legislation. Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama and California have enacted versions. The App Store Accountability Act is advancing through Congress.
The consensus is genuine. The question is why Meta is leading the campaign rather than simply implementing its own age checks more rigorously.
Motive is obvious
Meta's business depends on teenagers using its products. Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp are all platforms where younger users drive engagement growth. Any age verification system that Meta controls creates a friction point that reduces sign-ups and usage on its own platforms.
Pushing verification to the app store removes that friction from Meta's onboarding process entirely. The user has already been verified before they reach Instagram. Meta does not need to ask for an ID, does not need to store sensitive documents, and does not need to explain to investors why new user growth slowed because teenagers could not get past an age gate.
The company framed the blog post as a question: "How will we, as a society, reliably verify age on the internet?" The answer Meta prefers is: someone else should do it, at a layer we do not control, before the user ever reaches us.
The policy is defensible. The implementation would benefit Meta more than any other company in the industry. Both things can be true, and both should be noted when evaluating whose interests the proposal serves.
