Application distributor and developer obligations

(a) Application distribution providers An Application Distribution Provider— (1) shall provide the account holder’s parent with the ability to prevent account holders who are not Adults from acquiring or using the Developer’s Covered Application from the Application Distributor; (2) shall provide the Developer of a Covered Application with the ability to prevent account holders who are not Adults from acquiring or using the Developer’s Covered Application from the Application Distributor. (A) Nothing in this section shall prevent Application Distribution Providers from creating a user interface or centralized page for account holder’s parents to block categories by age rating of Covered Applications based on the content and features of the Covered Application. (2) shall provide the capability to Developers to provide information regarding their relevant parental controls for a Covered Application through a centralized product page or user interface, hosted by the Application Distribution Provider, that provides relevant information about a Covered Application; (3) shall comply with the obligations set out in subsection (b) for its own Covered Applications for which the Application Distribution Provider is also the Developer; and (4) shall not use data collected from third-party Covered Applications in the course of compliance with this section to give the Application Distribution Provider preference relative to those of third parties, or to otherwise use such data in an anticompetitive manner. (b) Developers of covered applications A Developer of a Covered Application— (1) shall report to the Application Distribution Provider whether their Applications provide a different experience for Adults than for users who are not Adults or is intended only for Adults; (2) shall provide information regarding privacy and online safety settings to help parents support Minors using their Covered Applications, unless their Application is intended only for Adults and blocks Minors; (3) shall use commercially reasonable efforts to determine whether a user is an Adult or a Minor with a reasonable level of certainty; (A) For the purposes of this section, an Age Signal provided by an Application Distribution Provider shall be considered a commercially reasonable effort, unless a Developer’s Application is intended only for Adults and blocks Minors and is required by law to restrict access to Adults, in which case— (i) an Age Signal provided by an Application Distribution Provider indicating a user is a Minor shall be sufficient basis to block access; and (ii) an Age Signal provided by an Application Distribution Provider indicating a user is an Adult shall not, by itself, satisfy the requirement to determine whether a user is an Adult with a reasonable level of certainty, including for purposes of other laws that require access restrictions based on age. (4) shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that users who are Minors cannot engage in any activity that has been restricted by the developer for Adults only; (5) shall obtain consent prior to permitting Minor account holders from accessing a Covered Application or portion thereof that the Developer has designated as unsuitable for use by Minors without parental guidance or supervision, or from accessing content that is age-gated by law; (6) shall not deliver personalized advertising to Minors; and (7) if the Developer determines that it is a Covered Application, and chooses to call an Age Signal facilitated by an Application Distribution Provider to satisfy the requirements of this section, the Developer— (A) shall request the minimum amount of information needed for purposes of compliance with this Act; (B) may not willfully disregard any information regarding an individual’s age or Age Category that is otherwise available to the Developer; (C) may not share the information obtained from the Age Signal with third parties, except for a service provider, but only if necessary for such service provider to implement safety measures or privacy protections for minors or otherwise required to do so by law; and (D) may not use the Age Signal for any purpose beyond that intended by this Act, including but not limited to using the Age Signal to back into or attempt to back into a user’s date of birth. (8) if the Developer uses a method other than an Age Signal provided by an Application Distribution Provider to satisfy the requirements of this section, the Developer— (A) shall request the minimum amount of information needed for purposes of compliance with this Act; (B) may not willfully disregard any information regarding an individual’s age or Age Category that is available to the Developer; (C) may not share the information obtained in the course of complying with this section with third parties, except for a service provider, but only if necessary for such service provider to implement safety measures or privacy protections for minors or otherwise required to do so by law; and (D) may not use age data for any purpose beyond that intended by this Act, including but not limited to using age data to back into or attempt to back into a user’s date of birth. (c) Rule of construction If the Developer and an Application Distribution Provider are controlled by the same entity, the Developer may rely on age determinations made by that entity. (d) Rule of Construction Developers of Covered websites shall have the same requirements as Developers of Covered Applications in this Act and may carry over to Covered websites an Age Signal received from an Application Distribution Provider to fulfill such requirements.