California Bill AB-1856 passes - exempting open source from age verification

31 Aug 2026 at 8:57 am UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

The age verification bill in California AB-1856 has passed with the exemptions for open source left intact.

GamingOnLinux previously reported on many different US states going through these device, app and operating system age verification laws. Back in May, we covered Colorado and California exemptions for open source. Just recently as of August 27th, it has now fully passed through multiple readings and will be signed into law.

The important bits that were amended for open source:

"(2) “Operating system provider” does not mean a person or entity that distributes an operating system or application under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software."

So that covers pretty much all Linux distributions.

And also:

"(2) “Application” does not include software components that are not themselves offered to consumers as a stand-alone executable application through a covered application store.

Which covers anyone making apps not available in an app store.

Right now, it seems like it's good news for Linux and open source as a whole. But, it is very much rules for thee but not for me and will end up complicating things for developers. So the likes of Windows, macOS, iOS, and probably Android are all most likely left in scope of this.

I still think it could end up problematic for Linux though. When you really think it through, and I stand by those words I previously wrote. It remains to be seen how it all will be implemented in stores and applications directly, and some could end up blocking Linux if they are directly forced to check ages and prove it's working.

🌐 External Sources: legiscan.com Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Distro News, Misc, Open Source 19 Likes Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands has Easy Anti-Cheat removedD7VK version 2.1 brings improvements to retro game loading timeLinux kernel 7.2 is officially out nowBazzite 44 getting a hotfix for various issues after the recent big release All posts need to follow our rules. Please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Readers can also email us for any issues or concerns.