Linux backlash leads to California law change on age verification — with the original lawmaker forced to make a humbling step back | Daily Reports Online
- 2025 California law requires OS vendors to obtain user age brackets to boost protection
- Linux community worried that a lack of commercial ownership make it difficult to enforce
- The change would also require vendors to share “only the minimum… information necessary”
A new California amendment bill aims to make most mainstream open source Linux distros, like Ubuntu, exempt from the state’s upcoming age-verification requirements.
Passed in late 2025, the Digital Age Assurance Act was designed to shift the burden of age verification from individual websites to the operating system level.
Under the law, OSs are required to request a user’s age bracket during device setup, which would go on to be exposed to apps and stores that offer age-restricted services.
Linux exempt from OS-level age verification law
The Linux community fought against the California mandate, warning that the open source nature of the software means it doesn’t have the corporate ownership or account infrastructure to enforce such a policy.
The workaround amendment, introduced by the same lawmaker who passed the 2025 mandate (Buffy Wicks D-Oakland), has essentially redefined what an ‘operating system provider’ means. The change excludes any entity that distributes software under licenses that allow users to copy, redistribute or edit it – in other words, Linux.
This means that commercial systems like Windows and macOS will still be subject to the law. The amendment is still in its early stages (per Digital Democracy Calmatters), and needs to go through two chambers before being enacted.
As of April 20, 2026 the bill has two supporting organizations and three against.
The amendment also expands the existing Act to apply to browser providers and website operators, and requires OS vendors to send “only the minimum amount of the information necessary to comply with the Act.”
“We also want to ensure that all online spaces where children can access, such as websites, are included within this age assurance framework and can comply with applicable laws,” Wicks wrote.
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