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California exempts open-source operating systems from age-signal duty

California's legislature passed AB 1856, which would exempt openly licensed operating systems from the age-signal obligations created by the Digital Age Assurance Act. It awaits the governor's signature.

2026-08-31CC-BY-4.0ab-1043age-signalsopen-sourcecalifornia

About

Age Assurance (Verification & Estimation)

Key Facts

  • The exemption covers operating systems under GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licences.
  • It amends AB 1043, the Digital Age Assurance Act, which takes effect January 1, 2027; the Senate passed AB 1856 39-0 and the Assembly concurred 69-0.
  • Proposed mandates on web browsers and website operators were removed.

Card Text

Device-level age signalling assumes an identifiable operator who can be held accountable, which does not map onto community-maintained software. The carve-out is an early example of age assurance rules being narrowed to where enforcement is actually feasible.

Sources