Local child protection group takes its fight against big tech to the FTC

Elizabeth Spencer | Lehi Free Press

The Digital Childhood Institute (DCI) recently filed formal complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against both Apple and Google. Melissa McKay, President and Chair of the Board for DCI and a Utah County resident, has spent years working to protect young people from the harmful effects of digital platforms. DCI is a nonprofit research and education organization that exposes online exploitation and pushes for stronger protections through policy, public awareness, and direct advocacy.

Since 2019, DCI leadership has repeatedly urged major app stores to prioritize child safety through congressional testimony, national campaigns, public letters, legislation, and awareness efforts. When these attempts produced little meaningful progress, the organization turned to the FTC.

The complaint centers on five main violations: that Apple knowingly markets harmful and age restricted apps as safe for kids, advertises deceptive safety claims about their ineffective parental controls, facilitates binding contracts between children and tech companies without involving parents, enables unlawful data collection from users under thirteen in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and continues to bill families for in app purchases made by minors despite a 2014 FTC consent decree requiring express parental consent.

“An FTC investigation could not only hold Apple accountable but also set a powerful precedent for protecting children across the tech industry. For years, advocates have pushed for real change. After repeated hearings, national movements, resolutions, and letters brought little progress, we had no choice but to file formal complaints and write app store accountability legislation,” said McKay.

In October, DCI filed a similar 50-page complaint against Google. The Google filing focuses on how Google Play, YouTube, and Chrome operate as a connected ecosystem that harms children. It points out that Google relies on a quick, automated developer questionnaire to generate age ratings for Google Play, leaving families with no real protection. The complaint also emphasizes that Google allows children to remove parental oversight as soon as they turn 13.

“Google’s so-called safety features are a dangerous illusion,” McKay stated. “By outsourcing age rating to a two-minute questionnaire and cutting parents out of the moment a child turns 13, Google is not protecting families. It is betraying them. This is not child safety. It is corporate negligence presented as responsibility.”

Advertisement

The Utah State Legislature passed the App Store Accountability Act in March, a bill McKay helped draft, which requires app stores on mobile devices to verify a user’s age, obtain parental consent for minors, and provide clear and accurate safety disclosures. The Digital Childhood Institute also filed an amicus brief supporting a similar Texas bill that followed Utah’s lead. “All good child safety bills pass first in Utah,” shared McKay.

To read more about their work, visit: DigitalChildhoodInstitute.org.