Grindr supports age verification bill introduced by two Republicans

Grindr uploaded a blog post on Tuesday, stating that the company supports an age-verification bill recently introduced to Congress by two Republicans, Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. John James of Michigan.

The bill, which is expected to be debated during a House committee meeting, is called the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA), which "creates a single, secure age-verification process at the app-store level and allows developers to receive a verified age signal." It has seen support from big tech companies like Meta, Snap, and X. Separately, other child-safety legislation (most notably the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA) has drawn criticism online bc opponents say its “duty of care” approach could lead platforms to over-moderate, including limiting LGBTQ+ content. Supporters of ASAA, like Grindr, argue it addresses age assurance in a more targeted way by standardizing verification through app stores rather than regulating speech. Critics have said that KOSA would have provided organizations like the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank that originated Project 2025) the power to censor LGBTQ+ content, along with a whole host of other issues online.

Grindr's head of Global Government Affairs, Joe Hack, published a post earlier this week where he wrote, "We invest significant resources, including an age gate, device-level bans, human moderation, proprietary AI tools, and partnerships with child-safety organizations to prevent and remove underage users."

He continued, "We support Rep. John James's App Store Accountability Act because it strengthens this work. The bill establishes a single, secure age-verification process at the app store level and enables developers to receive a verified age signal. This approach, supported by nearly 90 percent of parents, is safer and more consistent than requiring users to verify their age separately across many apps."

Lee originally voted against an earlier version of KOSA last year, which prompted detractors amid the polarizing debate over age verification online. He told The Verge in a recent interview that he felt KOSA didn't "do the job that it needs to do to address some of the most significant threats to kids online, and it potentially opens the door to what could turn into political censorship by the federal government."

Earlier this year, the U.K. implemented age-verification on platforms like Grindr through its Online Safety Act. The legislation has proved difficult to enforce — and it's met opposition from people wary of providing government-issued IDs or facial scans. Internet culture expert and tech journalist Taylor Lorenz recently wrote in her newsletter, Power User Mag, that a bill like this is not about online safety. She writes that KOSA would "strip all anonymity from the internet, entrench the power of big tech, and actually endanger kids by allowing organizations like the Heritage Foundation to censor LGBTQ content, reproductive justice content, and content advocating for things like feminism and equal rights."

Lorenz also wrote that the U.K.'s restrictive Online Safety Act was used to "enact harsh controls over what can and cannot be said online, all under the guise of 'child safety' and curbing 'misinformation.'"

Lee said he feels confident in his new bill's ability to make its way through Congress, telling The Verge, "I don’t believe that there’s anything unlawful, unconstitutional, or otherwise problematic about this legislation," adding, "There’s certainly no reason to delay.”

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify the differences between ASAA and KOSA.