- California law of 2025 requires operating system vendors to obtain user age groups to increase protection
- Linux community worries that lack of commercial ownership will make it difficult to implement
- The change would also require providers to share “only the minimum… necessary information.”
A new California amendment bill aims to exempt most major open source Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, 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, operating systems must request a user’s age group during device setup, which would expose them to apps and stores that offer age-restricted services.
Linux exempt from age verification law at the operating system level
The Linux community fought California’s mandate, warning that the open source nature of the software means it does not have the corporate ownership or account infrastructure to enforce such a policy.
The alternative 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 such as Windows and macOS will remain subject to the law. The amendment is still in its early stages (according to Digital Democracy Calmatters) and must pass through two chambers before being enacted.
As of April 20, 2026, the bill has two organizations in favor and three against.
The amendment also expands existing law to apply to browser vendors and website operators, and requires operating system vendors to submit “only the minimum amount of information necessary to comply with the law.”
“We also want to ensure that all online spaces that children may access, such as websites, are included within this age assurance framework and can comply with applicable laws,” Wicks wrote.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds.
