California's legislature passes a bill exempting open-source OSes like Linux from a 2025 age-verification law; Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android remain in scope
California has been building a child-safety policy stack since its 2022 law limiting data collection from minors, followed by the 2025 age-verification mandate for device makers and app stores. AB 1856 redraws that mandate around how an operating system is distributed: open-source systems receive a carveout while the major proprietary platforms remain covered.
The unanimous legislative passage drew privacy and open-source-community praise in public discussion, underscoring that the exemption is being read as meaningful relief for Linux-based software rather than a change to the underlying age-assurance policy.
First-order effects
Linux and other qualifying open-source operating systems are excluded from the Digital Age Assurance Act's 2025 requirements, while Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android remain subject to them.
Developers and distributors of qualifying open-source systems avoid the compliance duties imposed on the proprietary operating-system platforms in California.
Second-order effects
Microsoft, Apple, and Google face an uneven compliance landscape: their covered operating systems must meet the law's age-assurance rules while qualifying open-source alternatives do not.
The carveout makes licensing and distribution model a practical regulatory boundary, giving operating-system projects a reason to establish whether they qualify before California requirements take effect.
Third-order effects
If California continues to refine age-assurance rules through platform-specific exemptions, operating-system governance may become as important to compliance as a platform's user-facing features.
The measure points toward child-safety regulation that distinguishes between proprietary gatekeepers and publicly distributed software, rather than treating all operating systems identically.
The trend: California's digital-safety policy is moving toward age-assurance obligations for major platform gatekeepers while carving out qualifying open-source infrastructure.
Win! California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
Win! California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
CaIifornia Lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
California's bill which would exempt Open Source Operating Systems from the state's mandatory Age Attestation law... has passed both houses and is now being sent to the California Governor's desk to be signed into law. The key new language:
California just carved Linux out of its age-check law. AB 1856 passed both houses with zero no votes. If Newsom signs it, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch and other GPL/MIT/BSD/Apache systems skip the Jan 2027 “how old are you?
Good news for Californians. The legislature voted unanimously: Linux will not have to ask for your age. AB 1856 passed the Senate 39-0, then the Assembly concurred. Operating systems and apps distributed under GPL, MIT, BSD, or Apache are out of California's age-verification
@tomshardware Russian government has tried to ban a bunch of internet resources because of the war with Ukraine, and now approximately 40% of the population use VPN daily. There is a lesson in there.