- California’s 2025 law requires OS vendors to enforce user age limits to increase protection
- The Linux community worried that lack of commercial ownership makes it difficult to enforce
- The amendment will also require suppliers to share “only the minimum… necessary information”
A new California amendment aims to exempt most mainstream open source Linux distributions, like 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.
By law, OSes are required to request a user’s age range during device setup, which would continue to be exposed to apps and stores that offer age-restricted services.
Linux exempt from OS-level age verification law
The Linux community fought California’s 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, which was introduced by the same legislator 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 modify it—in other words, Linux.
This means that commercial systems such as Windows and macOS will still be subject to the law. The amendment is still in the early stages (according to Digital Democracy Calmatters), and must pass through two chambers before passing.
Per April 20, 2026, the bill has two support organizations and three against.
The amendment also expands the existing law to apply to browser providers and website operators and requires OS vendors to send “only the minimum amount of information necessary to comply with the law.”
“We also want to ensure that all online spaces that children can access, such as websites, are included within this age insurance framework and can comply with applicable laws,” Wicks wrote.
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