Age verification, digital ID mandates, and online safety rules are gaining traction globally, shaping how apps are built, distributed, and governed across markets. In the United States, Texas’s App Store Accountability Act is on hold for now, but similar proposals are still advancing and being enforced at all levels of government in the U.S., EU, UK, and more. These changes could bring higher compliance costs, added complexity, and new barriers to innovation, especially for startups, scaleups, and SMEs.