Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / App Store Accountability Act - TPR's In Focus - Feb 20, 2026

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App Store Accountability Act - TPR's In Focus - Feb 20, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  >> Speaker A: Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy
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  University's Dothan Campus, identifying and
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  preserving historical documents and photographs
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  for research related to the Wiregrass region. More
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  information at troy. Edu wiregrassarchives From
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  Troy Public Radio, this
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: is the Newswrap From In Focus, and I'm Carolyn
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  Hutcheson Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public
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  Television's Capitol Journal, discusses the App
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  Store Account act headed for the governor's
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  signature. And the wild card applauds Larry the
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  cat, who has served England faithfully for 15
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  years. Todd, welcome back to the Newswrap
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  >> Todd Stacey: Good to be with you.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: The governor signed an important bill this week.
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  What was that about?
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  >> Todd Stacey: That's right. She signed the App Store
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  Accountability Act. This has to do with cell
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  phones and children. They're trying to put more
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  safeguards in place to really protect children
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  from inappropriate and dangerous content online.
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  We know how that content can be really damaging to
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  children. And so this bill would force App stores,
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  meaning the Apple App Store, the Google App Store,
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  whatever cell phone you go through, require age
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  verification. If you're a minor, then they're
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  going to verify that age. And if you are a minor,
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  you have to connect with a parent so account that
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  parent would have approval over what content you
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  see, what apps you download and things like that.
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  They've been trying for a couple of years to pass
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  this. This bill comes from State Representative
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  Chris Sells of Greenville and State Senator Clyde
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  Chambliss of Prattville. It's all about protecting
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  children online. So the governor signed the bill.
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  It's now law. I do think it might be the subject
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  of some lawsuits in terms of constitutionality.
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  There's lots of First Amendment implications, but
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  other states have done this and it's something
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  that even the federal government has looked at.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: I remember on Capitol Journal and other news
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  coverage that addiction to these social media
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  sites and apps can be a huge issue for young
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  people.
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  >> Todd Stacey: Oh, absolutely. It's something that US Senator
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  Katie Ritt has talked about quite a bit. Of
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  course, she's the mother of school age children.
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  We're all too addicted to our phones to one degree
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  or the other. But the problem is for young people,
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  their brains are still developing and so much
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  online content, so much screen time has proven to
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  be dangerous in inhibiting that proper brain
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  development. So this is just one of many measures
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  that I think you're gonna see to turn back the
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  clock a little bit in terms of how widespread
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  online activity and screen time have gotten.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: On another note, there's been a leadership change
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  at the legislature.
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  >> Todd Stacey: That's right. It's been kind of a dramatic week
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  for the House Republican Caucus that started last
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  week when there was talk of the majority leader,
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  Scott Stathagen stepping aside to run for Alabama
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  Republican Party chairman. There was actually a
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  recording taken from an internal caucus meeting.
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  That's a big no, no. And shared with media leaked
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  from the caucus meeting. So finally this week,
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  they have elected a new majority leader in state
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  Representative Paul Lee of Dothan. Representative
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  Lee, he's been around for a while. He was part of
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  that 2010 class, one of the more experienced state
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  lawmaker. I look for him to bring a lot more
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  stability to that caucus. That's the really the
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  job of majority leader is to lead the caucus and
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  also run elections. Obviously it's an election
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  year, so it's an important job.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Well, Todd, can you leave us with a wild card?
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  >> Todd Stacey: Well, we like our pet wild cards. And you know,
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  the famous first pet of England hit a milestone.
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  You may remember Larry the cat. He's the self
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  appointed first cat of England. He's always
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  outside of 10 Downing street there in London and
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  he's been doing that for 15 years now. He's been
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  the British government's unofficial rodent
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  catcher. They say first feline. What a milestone.
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  And I think they could do some good news over
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  there across the pond
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: these days, Todd, your radio listeners can catch
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  Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television
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  7:30pm Fridays, 12 noon on Sundays and on YouTube
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  and during the legislative session. You're on
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  nightly when we go on
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  >> Todd Stacey: the air at 10:30 each night after your local news.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: Thanks so much for joining us today.
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  >> Todd Stacey: Thank you.
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  >> Carolyn Hutchison: That was Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public
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  Television's Capitol Journal. More information can
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  be found at the website aptv.org thanks for
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  joining us. For the news wrap on In Focus, I'm
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  Carolyn Hutcheson and this is listener supported
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  Troy Public Radio.