California’s Digital Age Assurance Act mandates OS age testing
7 days ago
2 minutes read
Over the past few years, age verification has become increasingly common across industries and platforms. Just last month, Discord announced plans to roll out age verification methods worldwide to, it says, protect users from harmful or inappropriate content.
And now, the move is trickling down to operating systems. Well, at least in California. In October 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the California Digital Age Verification Act (AB 1043), which requires operating system providers in the state to collect users’ age information during setup (via PCGamer).
The bill was passed by the Assembly and the Senate unanimously, and is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2027, affecting Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux distros such as SteamOS, and more.
According to AB 1043, the OS developer will be required to:
“1) Provide an accessible interface for setting up an account that requires the account holder to indicate the date of birth, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age to applications available in the covered application store.
(2) Provide the engineer who requested the signal with respect to a particular user with a digital signal using a logically consistent real-time programming interface that indicates, at a minimum, which of the following sections pertain to the user.
The categories are divided into four categories: users under 13 years old, over 13 years old under 16 years old, at least 16 years old and under 18 years old, and “at least 18 years old.”
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While the law doesn’t use complex age verification methods like facial scanning, OS developers will be required to collect age verification during the account setup process. The information may then be shared with application developers upon request.
App developers will now be able to access the age of their users, shifting the liability of age-appropriate content decisions to them. In context, app developers can face steep penalties: up to $2,500 per child affected for negligent violations and $7,500 for intentional violations.
Despite signing the bill into law, Governor Gavin Newsom has urged the legislature to amend it, citing complaints from streaming services and game developers. “Issues such as multiple user accounts shared between families and user profiles spread across multiple devices.”
Age verification probably won’t work on Linux
While this may not be a major change for Windows since the operating system already requires users to provide their date of birth during the Microsoft Account setup process, it appears to be a step up for Linux distros.
This is because they do not have centralized accounts, and users can download ISOs from global screens and freely modify the source code.
“This is impossible for California to enforce,” CatoDomine was featured on Reddit. “Even if Linux Mint decides to add some form of age verification, to comply with the CA rule, there is no reason for anyone to choose that version.”
The user also pointed out that even finding a way to get age verification to work on Linux, “They’ll probably put a disclaimer on their website: “not for use in California.”
Do you support California’s new law requiring age verification on all operating systems? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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