Age assurance lobby gets busier with new Meta-backed coalition

Washington has a new advocate for consumer choice in the smartphone ecosystem: a release announces the launch of the Coalition for a Competitive Mobile Experience (CCME), a group dedicated to combating “anti-competitive practices by smartphone platform owners that lock users into proprietary systems, limit choice, and increase costs for all consumers.”

The fearless defenders behind this initiative? The release lists, as founding members, Meta, Spotify, Match Group (owner of most of the big online dating apps) and consumer electronics maker Garmin.

The CCME dares not name the two mobile titans to which it alludes, saying only that, “while the smartphone ecosystem has provided consumers with great benefits, it has led to a duopoly where dominant platforms control the market and limit consumer choice to their own benefit.”

To those outside the coalition, that translates roughly as “we think Apple and Google have had their time in the sun, and should make room in the market for us.” But it also hides a potential weapon in the legal fight over online age checks.

The coalition says its guiding principles include hardware and software interoperability, a “level playing field in the app marketplace” and – lo and behold – age verification at the app store level, on the grounds that “it is where apps are purchased, and the app store already has the age data.”

So, while there’s little doubt that the CCME genuinely wants a bigger piece of the smartphone ecosystem, and believes “smartphone gatekeepers should not be permitted to discriminate against competing software, apps, or hardware (e.g. earbuds, watches, health wearables) by degrading or throttling the consumer experience,” the coalition also provides a convenient new vehicle to join the growing roster of lobby groups backed by big tech to lean on regulators as age assurance laws come into effect.

Coalition director Brandon Kressin has this to say: “Smartphones have become one of the most important tools in our daily lives, but the mobile experience is controlled by gatekeepers that have used their control of the market to stifle competition and choice at the expense of consumers. Leveling the playing field, increasing interoperability, and adding age-based content restrictions in the app store will give consumers the power they deserve, providing more freedom and access, all while lowering costs.”

The social media platforms’ argument for age assurance at the app store level now comes from at least three sides: NetChoice, which flogs the First Amendment; Chamber of Progress, which prizes “progressive society, economy, workforce, and consumer climate”; and the CCMC, which hoists the banner of consumer choice.

Article Topics

age verification  |  app stores  |  Apple  |  Coalition for a Competitive Mobile Experience (CCME)  |  Google  |  Meta  |  smartphones