By: Mohamed Shidane, Deputy Director, Somali Health Board
Since 2012, the Somali Health Board has been addressing health inequities that affect immigrant and refugee families in King County. More and more, we’re seeing how digital access impacts community wellbeing—and how misguided policies can create more problems than they solve.
Our young community members rely heavily on technology to stay connected with extended family overseas, pursue educational goals, and participate in civic life. Even online, these connections are essential and support mental health, cultural identity, and academic success. When we talk about online safety, we have to take stock of the good and the bad.
Washington State’s track record on regulating social media hasn’t been encouraging. Previous legislative attempts were misguided and unconstitutional, and would have inevitably wound up in costly court challenges. Washington can’t afford these expensive mistakes.
Here’s what we’ve learned: Most parents aren’t looking for ways to monitor every click their teenager makes. What they want is to be included in decisions about which platforms their children join. It’s about communication, not control. The App Store Accountability Act takes this reasonable approach. Parents would get notified when their child wants to download a new app—similar to how they’re already alerted about purchases. A quick yes or no decision, and then the young person has full access to use that platform however they choose.
This solution just makes sense. It works for parents who struggle to navigate existing technology. It works for busy families who may lack the bandwidth to keep up with their child’s social media usage. And also, maybe most importantly, it works for the teenagers who rely on their digital connections for community.
As health advocates, we understand that adolescents need both support and independence to develop properly. Heavy-handed restrictions often backfire. Consider the alternative approaches our state government is currently considering: a requirement for platforms to collect detailed personal information from minors, a law mandating complex age-verification systems for all users, or regulation to censor broad categories of content. These would likely face the same constitutional challenges and implementation failures that can cost taxpayers millions in litigation and make young people no safer.
The advantage of the federal approach is that it builds on technology people already understand. Family sharing settings exist on most devices. Purchase notifications are familiar to parents. The infrastructure is already there—this legislation just extends it to include app downloads.
The App Store Accountability Act offers exactly what our community needs: practical tools that work for busy families, respect for both parental involvement and teenage autonomy, and federal consistency that avoids the patchwork confusion of state-by-state regulations.
We encourage Washington’s congressional delegation to support this legislation. It represents the kind of thoughtful policymaking that actually serves families rather than creating new obstacles for them to overcome.
Mohamed Shidane is the Deputy Director of the Somali Health Board and lives in South Seattle.
