California may let Linux bypass age check

California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) creates age verification duties for operating system providers, covered app stores, and application developers. Operating system providers must offer an accessible interface at account setup for users to indicate birth date, age, or both. The law is intended to reduce risks to children, including cyberbullying, sextortion, and mental health harms, and takes effect January 1, 2027. After AB 1043 was signed, an amendment (AB 1856) added an open source carve-out defining “operating system provider” to exclude entities distributing software under license terms that allow recipients to copy, redistribute, and modify. If approved, Linux vendors may avoid age checks during distribution installation and launch.

"Last October, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) into law, which establishes age verification obligations for operating system providers, covered app stores, and application developers. Those distributing operating systems must provide "an accessible interface at account setup" for the user to indicate birth date, age, or both. The act, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), aims to protect children from online risks such as cyberbullying, sextortion, and mental health harms. It takes effect January 1, 2027."

"After AB 1043 was signed, Wicks in February introduced AB 1856 as an amendment to the law. Several changes have been made to the bill since then, the most salient for open source projects being the version published on May 18, 2026. That version includes the following additional language that creates an open source carve-out: (2) "Operating system provider" does not mean a person or entity that distributes an operating system or application under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software."

"So if the proposed amendment gets approved, Linux vendors should be off the hook for implementing age checks upon distro installation and launch. Whether that will apply to companies like Valve, which ships its proprietary Steam Client with its Linux-based SteamOS, isn't clear. MidnightBSD in February briefly included a clause in its license that banned California residents from using the operating system. But the following month, project developers set about exploring an age verification mechanism."

Read at theregister