Democrat bill would force you to give Big Tech your ID just to use your phone — or the internet

Politicians are progressively pushing for harsher age verification legislation. Some lawmakers think certain apps should require an ID to sign in, while others want to limit the reach of AI chatbots under the guise of child protection.

Now, a new bill proposed by Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) would require operating system developers — including Apple, Google, and Microsoft — to verify the ages of their users when setting up a new device.

The bill is actually a Trojan horse for mass data collection.

This is the Parents Decide Act

The new bill, unassumingly named the Parents Decide Act, includes several key requirements that all platform holders would have to recognize if the bill passes. These include:

• Strict guidelines that state OS platform holders must verify the age of every user when they set up a new device. The bill is clear that it’s not enough to have users self-report their date of birth and age; hard-proof verification is required.
• Custom content controls that let parents set age-appropriate parameters on their children’s devices. This includes the ability to limit access to social media, apps, and even AI platforms.
• A pathway to ensure that all apps installed on a device are tuned to adhere to the custom controls in the previous point. No workarounds or exceptions will be allowed.
• A trusted multi-platform standard that bans children from accessing what the government labels “harmful” or “explicit” content on any device made by any OEM on any software platform. On the surface, this can include adult content and conversations with AI chatbots, although “harmful” or “hateful” speech has taken on different meanings to the left over the years, usually to describe speech that doesn’t align with their views.

To be clear, the Parents Decide Act would require these protections to be built directly into the software of every device — it would become a core feature within iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. There are questions as to how the government would enforce the bill on open-source Linux, but it will certainly try.

The quiet part of the bill

The piece that’s missing from the bill announcement is how platform holders will verify the ages of their users. At this time, a government-issued ID is the only valid method on the table. Essentially, the government is asking Big Tech platform holders to create a system that stores and verifies the digital IDs of their users — a database filled with users’ names, dates of birth, heights, weights, and, of course, a recent photo.

Glenn Beck has spoken enough about the dangers of digital IDs to know this is a very bad idea.

RELATED: Glenn Beck sounds the alarm on Apple’s digital ID: ‘Control of absolutely everything’

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The irony is palpable

This bill proposal couldn’t come at a better time as leftist politicians argue the faux injustice of the SAVE America Act, which would require American citizens to show a valid ID at the voting booth to participate in our elections.

Of course, there’s a reason Rep. Gottheimer doesn’t outright admit that a valid ID is necessary to make the Parents Decide Act work. That would expose the absolute hypocrisy of the left that wants to leave voting rights open to noncitizens but limit the access of digital technology and the internet to everyday Americans unwilling to give their ID to Big Tech or the government.

What’s in a name?

Democrats love to misname bills — like the Inflation Reduction Act, which weaponized the IRS against the American people.

Keeping the tradition alive, the “Parents Decide Act” is less about parental control and more about government control. It requires all users — namely adults (since children rarely have valid forms of identification) — to submit their photo IDs to verify their ages. Parents don’t get to opt their children out of this process, so that’s clearly not the decision parents get to make as part of the bill. Parents don’t get to protect their kids from government overreach, so that’s not a decision either.

In fact, if the bill did what its title suggests, it wouldn’t exist at all! Instead, parents would have the freedom to decide whether their children have access to an internet-connected device on their own terms. Right?

While the Parents Decide Act may be disguised as a benevolent way to protect children, the bill is actually a Trojan horse for mass data collection, digital ID databases, and a power grab to control young users’ access to information. Why? I’m going out on a limb, but since Democrats are finally losing control over the education system, they have to find new ways to keep children from learning things they don’t want them to know, and restricting internet access is one of the best ways to do it.

Bad problem, worse ‘solution’

If there’s any grace worth throwing at the Parents Decide Act, it’s this: It’s true that many places online aren’t meant for children (they’re not meant for adults either, if we’re being honest). But legislation isn’t the answer. Parents should have complete control over their children’s access to devices and the internet from inside their home. Not the government. Adult users also shouldn’t be forced to provide an ID to use their devices and the internet.

This is complete, authoritarian-level control over device and internet access that affects all Americans.

Rep. Gottheimer isn’t the only Democrat fighting for age verification either. California is already initiating its own state-level bill titled Digital Age Assurance Act. However, we expect these kinds of restrictions in a left-wing hub. If passed, the federal Parents Decide Act would make age verification mandatory for the entire country, and once it’s signed into law, none of us are exempt. You will comply, or you will lose access to your phone, your laptop, your tablet, and the internet.