Meta's victory that worries other tech giants

In January last year, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta $META, said during a congressional hearing that verifying the age of users should not be the responsibility of social platforms, but rather app stores. A year later, one US state took his advice seriously.

Utah passed a groundbreaking law last week that requires app stores to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before minors download apps. The move represents a significant victory for Zuckerberg and other tech giants, who have faced increasing pressure to protect children in the digital world. But the law also raises privacy and legal concerns and has faced opposition from Apple, Google and other critics.

Apple is skeptical of the new legislation. The company said in a statement that age verification at the app store level would mean that every user - not just children - would have to share sensitive personal information, which could compromise their privacy. Google went even further, accusing Zuckerberg and other companies of…