Linux, open source operating systems, users exempt from age-verification, in California

31 August 2026

Luke James, writing for Tom’s Hardware:

California’s legislature has passed Assembly Bill 1856, exempting open-source operating systems from the State’s Digital Age Assurance Act months before the law is due to take effect on January 1, 2027.

It’s good news, but Linux, and other open source operating systems, are just, you know, too weird, and probably no one uses them, so, like, why bother with age-verification.

SteamOS is a Linux distribution favoured by gamers, some of whom might be minors. How long that stays on the exemption list remains to be seen though.

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