California Grants Open-Source Exemption in Age-Verification Bill AB-1856
California’s AB-1856 passed the Assembly, exempting Linux distributions, BSDs, and other open-source platforms from the Digital Age Assurance Act’s age-verification rules; non-exempt software will require age collection from Jan 1, 2027, with exemptions clarifying that OS/app licenses permitting copying/modification and non-stand-alone app components in covered stores aren’t subject to the requirements.