Op-ed: Anchorage Homeschool Mom Urges Support for federal App Store Accountability Act

I Homeschool My Kids to Give Them the Best Education. Congress Should Help Me Protect Them Online, Too.

By Melissa Talaro
Anchorage, Alaska

I chose to homeschool my children because I believe parents are in the best position to guide their education. Every day, I build lesson plans, select curriculum, and tailor learning to my kids' strengths and needs. It is hands-on, intentional work, and I would not trade it for anything.

But there is one area where even the most involved parent is set up to fail: the digital world.

My children use technology every day. It is woven into how they learn, research, communicate, and connect with other homeschool families across Alaska. I am not anti-technology. I am pro-accountability. And right now, the app store system offers parents almost none.

Today, a child can tap through a terms-of-service agreement no adult would bother reading, download an app with a misleading age rating, and be exposed to explicit content, predatory chat features, addictive design, or invasive data collection, all without a parent's knowledge or consent.

This is why I support the App Store Accountability Act, introduced in Congress as S. 1586 by Senator Mike Lee and H.R. 3149 by Representative John James. The bill would require age verification at the app store level, mandate parental consent before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases, and improve the accuracy of age ratings so parents are not misled about what their children will actually encounter inside an app.

As a homeschool parent, I already do the work of curating what my children learn and experience. This bill would give me the same ability in the digital space, a single, centralized place to approve or block apps before they ever reach my kids' devices. That is not government overreach. That is a practical tool that supports the work parents are already doing.

We require age checks at brick-and-mortar stores for tobacco, alcohol, and other restricted products. If we hold corner stores accountable, we should certainly hold technology that is in our children's hands every day to the same standard.

A national poll by the Digital Childhood Alliance found that 88 percent of parents support requiring app stores to obtain parental approval before minors can download apps. This is not a partisan issue. It is a parenting issue.

Four states, Utah, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana, have already signed app store accountability measures into law. Alaska families deserve the same protection at the federal level.

I urge Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich to support and advance the App Store Accountability Act. Parents across Alaska, whether they homeschool, send their kids to public school, or educate through any other path, need Congress to act. We are doing everything we can at home. We need the app stores to do their part, too.