Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
So long as Linux is distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses, the OS is exempt from being required to verify the age of its users in California.
The California legislature has passed Assembly Bill 1856, which will take effect January 1, 2027. That bill clearly states, “‘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.”
In other words, if an OS license allows a user to copy, redistribute, or modify the software, it is exempt. Anyone who's spent enough time in the open source world knows exactly what that means: Linux. That's right, Linux is exempt from the age verification law in California.
Continue reading and you'll find another exclusion, which states, “offered to consumers as a stand-alone executable application through a covered application store,” which includes things like libraries, frameworks, and dependencies that are distributed through distribution package managers.
Finally, a third exemption covers the likes of browser extensions.
One questionable area is SteamOS. Although SteamOS is based on Arch Linux (which falls within the realm of the first exemption), it is packaged with proprietary software, which could cause it to fall outside of that exemption, meaning it could require age verification. It is unclear how SteamOS will fare, but time will eventually tell.
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Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
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