California Steps Back From Dangerous Expansion of its Age-Gating Law
California legislators have removed the most contentious provisions from A.B. 1856, a bill that would have broadened the state's existing age-verification requirements for operating systems and app stores. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposed the expansion, still considers the underlying 2025 law unconstitutional.
Why this matters: Age-gating sounds protective. In practice, it means platforms collect proof of who you are just to let you browse. That data does not disappear. It gets stored, shared, or breached. The provisions that were dropped would have made that worse. But the underlying law is still on the books, still requires age collection at the OS and app store level, and still takes effect in 2027. A partial retreat is not a fix. Anyone who uses a phone or computer in California has a stake in whether this law survives a constitutional challenge.
Who should care: General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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