Mainstream Contributors To Sexual Exploitation
Deceptive to the Core
Apple App Store age ratings and descriptions mislead parents about the content, risks, and dangers to children on available apps. When caregivers aren’t informed, kids pay the price.
With almost 90% of US teens owning an iPhone, Apple can rightly be called a primary “gatekeeper” to what America’s children are accessing online…as well as who is accessing them. Caregivers trust and rely on Apple’s App Store age ratings and descriptions to determine what apps are safe and appropriate for their children to use. App age ratings also “trigger” several aspects of Apple’s parental controls (called Screen Time), blocking entire apps or content based on the designated age.
Yet at a time when child safety experts and mental health professionals – including the United States Surgeon General – are sounding the alarm that our kids are in crisis due in large part to social media, Apple’s app descriptions remain vague, hidden, and inconsistent: further jeopardizing our already-at-risk children.
Documented dangers on apps such as risky features, exposure to adult strangers (including predators), harmful content, illegal drug activity, concerns about healthy child development, easy access to explicit content, and most recently, an explosion of financial sextortion are not included in the current app descriptions. Even the social media and gaming apps that have been exposed as particularly rife with predatory activity, sexual interactions, and pornographic content (videos, images, language) are labeled 12+ for “infrequent or mild mature or suggestive themes” and “infrequent mild language.” US federal law requires children to be at least 13 years old to use social media and games not specifically designed for youth.
Furthermore, despite knowing the age of the account holder (based on Apple ID), Apple App Store suggests and promotes sex-themed 17+ apps to children apps (including kink, hookup, adult dating, and “chatroulette” apps that pair random users) which they can download by clicking a box noting they are 17+. Apple does not enforce its own Developer Guidelines, which state that ads must be appropriate for the app’s age rating, exposing children to mature in-app advertisements that reference gambling, drugs, and sexual role-play for apps rated 17+, even when the app is rated 9+ or 12+. And there is no system in place to report apps that fail to adequately explain the types of content a user might experience.
With Apple’s near limitless resources, there can be no excuse for the deception of consumers, of caregivers on such a massive scale: It’s time Apple finally fixes its app rating system.
Review the proof we’ve collected, read our recommendations for improvement, and see our notification letter to Roblox for more details.
Take Action
Our Requests for Improvement
- Accurate Ratings - A universal standard for ratings must be created with penalties for misrepresentation.
- Accurate Content Descriptors - App descriptions must be expanded to include detailed content descriptors and summaries of risks unique to the app.
- Highly Visible Content Ratings - App ratings and descriptors must be prominent so that parents and children are fully informed of the risks.
- Uniform and Accountable System - It's time for companies like Apple and Google to work together to create a uniform and accountable rating system.
