Apple—Apple lobbied state legislatures to shift app-store child-safety liability onto a model bill barring private lawsuits

Politico reported on October 4, 2026 that Apple and Google have been lobbying state legislatures across the US (including Arizona, Georgia, and Kansas) to promote an alternative bill, the 'Mobile Ecosystem Responsibility Act' (MERA), in response to a wave of state app-store accountability and age-verification bills. MERA would bar private rights of action over app-store child-safety and age-verification failures, leaving enforcement solely to state attorneys general and shifting liability away from the app stores. The reporting was based on draft legislation, internal emails, and interviews with seven people with knowledge of the lobbying effort; Apple's state lobbyists and trade-group allies circulated the alternative bill within days of competing bills being introduced.