In the midst of the ongoing political discussion around the globe about safety concerns about children on the internet, California has confirmed its position on the matter recently. Last October, Bill AB-1043, or the Digital Age Assurance Act, was passed into law by a margin of 77 for and 3 against, and its stipulations are to begin starting next year, 2027. To spare you from and summarize the lengthy legal jargon in the bill; it asserts that all operating systems on computers are to be updated with a mechanism for age verification for apps that implement it. One such app example would likely be Discord, which will soon launch its own age-verification measures despite community backlash.

The technologically savvy of you who use Linux, the free, open-source operating system, might be a little confused as to whether or not this applies to you–and the answer is somewhat unclear. There is nothing in the Bill that gives any sort of exception to Linux, so by default, yes, the bill would apply. But as pointed out by a Redditor from an article recently put out by PC Gamer, users would probably just use a different branch of Linux, because again, it’s open-source, and there’s not much you can do to prevent people from doing that. However, it’s safe to say the vast majority of everyday users are on a device that either runs MacOS or Windows, and in that case, you might have to provide identifying information come next January. The bill specifies that: “…a device for which account setup was completed before January 1, 2027… [shall] provide an accessible interface that allows an account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both…” And the bill clarifies that the information you would be expected to give would help produce “Age bracket data,” which “at a minimum” includes the list mentioned at the end of the previous quote.

On social media, users have expressed concern about the bill possibly violating privacy–a major aspect of the internet–though it states that developers are prohibited from sharing users’ age information with third parties “for a purpose not required by this title.” Others have celebrated the bill for its contribution to protecting children online, though it’s not clear if public sentiment aligns with that either.