California moves to exempt Linux from its upcoming age-verification law after backlash over forcing operating systems to collect users’ ages — amendment proposed by the same lawmaker who wrote the ori

California lawmakers have proposed Assembly Bill 1856 (AB 1856) to exempt most open-source operating systems from the state's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043). The amendment would exclude software distributed under licenses permitting copying, redistribution, and modification — effectively shielding mainstream Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, and Mint from having to collect users' ages during device setup. The original law required OS providers to gather age data and expose an 'age bracket signal' to apps and app stores. Critics including the EFF raised privacy concerns and questioned enforceability on decentralized open-source projects. Notably, SteamOS may still be subject to the law due to its ties to Valve's proprietary Steam storefront. The amendment does not repeal the original act but narrows the definition of 'operating system provider.' The bill was ordered to third reading as of May 19, 2026.