California Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043)
California, United StatesHigh threat- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
Turns every California device into an age checkpoint, making the operating system label users by age before apps are allowed to treat them normally.
Latest update
Governor Newsom signed AB 1856; chaptered as Chapter 184, Statutes of 2026
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Take action on this issueWhat it does
From January 1, 2027, operating systems must collect a user's age or birth date during setup and provide apps with a standardized age-bracket signal. Apps are expected to request and act on that signal. The follow-up AB 1856, signed on September 10, 2026 as Chapter 184, exempts open-source operating systems and clarifies how operating systems and apps exchange age data. Removing browsers and websites from AB 1856 narrowed that follow-up bill, but it did not remove the system-level checkpoint created by AB 1043.
What’s at stake
An age bracket is identity data. Once every phone and computer is built to classify its owner and report that classification to software, anonymous use stops being the default and permissioned access becomes part of the operating system. The law begins with a claimed age, but it creates infrastructure that can be tightened later through ID checks, biometrics, or other signals. AB 1709 and SB 1119 already show how quickly other laws can plug into that pipe.
Our take
There is nothing privacy-preserving about forcing the operating system to label every user. California calls this age assurance because that sounds gentler than surveillance, but the function is the same: the device becomes an identity checkpoint and apps decide what you may do from the state-defined category it supplies. Privacy is protected by collecting less information, not by making age classification universal.
Timeline
Governor Newsom signed AB 1856; chaptered as Chapter 184, Statutes of 2026Latest
Assembly concurred in AB 1856 by 69 to 0; sent to engrossing and enrolling
AB 1856 passed the Senate 39 to 0 with the open-source exemption intact
AB 1856's expansion of age signals to browsers and websites stripped after backlash
AB 1856 passed the Assembly 68 to 1, exempting open-source operating systems
Signed into law by Governor Newsom
Votes
- Assembly — Final passage (76 to 0) · June 2, 2025
- Senate — Final passage (38 to 0) · September 12, 2025
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