From the press release [my emphasis]:
Require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25834609
The U.S. has been quietly building up a set of state-level laws that push operating system providers into the age verification plague.
California’s AB 1043, signed in October 2025, requires OS providers to collect age data at account setup and pipe it to apps through a real-time API. It kicks in on January 1, 2027.
Colorado is working on something nearly identical. SB26-051 (which we covered when it was still a proposal) passed the state Senate 28-7 on March 3, 2026, and is now waiting on a House vote to become law there too.
However, these are just state-level laws. A new federal bill, H.R.8250, introduced on April 13, 2026, by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik signing on as cosponsor, has us intrigued.
What is to stop everyone from lying? I would enter 1/1/1900 if ever forced to.
This is Zuckerberg doing this via Meta:
https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rshc1f/i_traced_2_billion_in_nonprofit_grants_and_45/
Unidentified users are worth way less than users that they can link to an identity, a law like this passing would massively increase the value of Meta’s user base to advertisers and data brokers.
‘Protecting the children’ is a long used way to shut down dissenting voices (“Why does xxxx want to put our children in danger?!!!”).
Every day, the words “Violent Uprising” sound a lot less problematic in my ears.
We surely need to send protest emails and letters to legislators and government representatives – as citizens did in EU for the “chat control” proposals – and organize protest marches, strikes, and so on.
But yes, if the regime behaves more and more like a Russian state, rather than a democracy, and doesn’t care about citizens’ protests, then “violent uprising” becomes almost a moral imperative. “Democracy” means “government by the people”, and it’s we people who must make sure no one takes the government out of our hands; nobody else can do that for us.
I hope this just manifests as a transition from “I lied about my age to steam, Minecraft and pornhub” to “I let my OS lie about my age to steam, Minecraft and pornhub.”
But I get the fear that they’re going to take it too far and require ID, especially since the feds are a thousand times worse than the state governments in question.
From the press release [my emphasis]:
Require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.
There is no “age verification” possible, only identity verification that reveals your age. Once OSes have kill switches installed that operate based on your identity, it’s a pretty straight line to enforcing that only the “right people” have access to computers.
All programmers work for California now. They pass a stupid law, and we get to work on it. I guess this will just move our employer up the chain.
