The State of California's Digital Age Assurance Act, which was passed last year, will soon require every PC and mobile operating system provider to ask users for their age at account setup and then send the data to app developers. Although the California law does not take effect until 2027, this would affect Windows, Mac, and Linux PC users alike throughout the Golden State.
California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2025 after it unanimously passed both chambers of the California State Legislature. AB 1043 would mandate that operating system providers include a real-time application programming interface (API) that categorizes users into one of four age brackets. These brackets are for users under 13, ages 13 to 16, ages 16 to under 18, and anyone 18 or older. The data would then be sent to any developers that request that information from a user based in California when an app is downloaded or launched, which would then be used for content distribution purposes. AB 1043 goes into effect statewide starting January 1, 2027.
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