As an update to the May story about [1]California's age verification law may end up exempting most Linux distributions , that AB-1856 bill has finally passed!

As good news to the months of headaches over California's Digital Age Assurance Act and concerns around its impact on the Linux/open-source world, AB-1856 has finally passed which now amends protections and exemptions for easing compliance of open-source platforms.

Per the bill's [2]text , a key addition is:

"(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."

Thereby exempting Linux distributions, BSDs, and others distributed under open-source licenses. There is also an exemption on the application side around package managers:

"(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."

Phoronix reader Saihaj Sraon noted as of this week, AB-1856 [3]passed the California Assembly with 69 in favor, zero against.

For software not exempted, the California Digital Age Assurance Act takes effect on 1 January 2027 for requiring age collection at device setup time and age-bracket signals for applications.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/California-AB-1856

[2] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1856#99INT

[3] https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1856/2025