Bill Text - AB-1043 Age verification signals: software applications and online services.

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Bill Text

AB-1043 Age verification signals: software applications and online services. (2025-2026)

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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows

SECTION 1.

TITLE 1.81.9. Digital Age Assurance Act

1798.500.  For the purposes of this title: (a) (1) “Account holder” means an individual who is at least 18 years of age or a parent or legal guardian of a user who is under 18 years of age in the state. (2) “Account holder” does not include a parent of an emancipated minor or a parent or legal guardian who is not associated with a user’s device. (b) “Age bracket data” means nonpersonally identifiable data derived from a user’s birth date or age for the purpose of sharing with developers of applications that indicates the user’s age range, including, at a minimum, the following: (1) Whether a user is under 13 years of age. (2) Whether the user is at least

13 years of age and under 16 years of age. (3) Whether the user is at least 16 years of age and under 18 years of age. (4) Whether the user is at least

18 years of age. (c) “Application” means a software application

that may be run or directed by a user on a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device that can access a covered application store or download an application. (d) “Child” means a natural person who is under 18 years of age. (e) (1) “Covered application store” means a

publicly available

internet website, software application, online service, or platform that distributes and facilitates the download of applications from third-party developers to users of a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose computing that can access a covered application store or can download an application. (2) “Covered application store” does not mean an online service or platform that distribute...

1798.501.  (a) An operating system provider shall do all of the following: (1) Provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires an account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age bracket to applications available in a covered application store. (2) Provide a developer who has requested a signal with respect to a particular user with a digital signal via a

reasonably consistent real-time application programming interface that identifies, at a minimum, which of the following categories pertains to the user: (A) Under 13 years of age. (B) At least 13 years of age and under

16 years of age. (C) At least

16 years of age and under 18 years of age. (D) At least 18 years of age. (3) Send only the minimum amount of information necessary to comply with this title and shall not share the digital signal information with a third party for a purpose not required by this title. (b) (1) A developer shall request a signal with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded

and launched. (2) (A) A developer that receives a signal pursuant to this title shall be deemed to have actual knowledge of the

age range of the user to whom that signal pertains across all platforms of the application and points of access of the application even if the developer willfully disregards the signal. (B) A developer shall not willfully disregard internal clear and convincing information otherwise available to the devel...

1798.502.  (a) With respect to a device for which account setup was completed before January 1, 2027, an operating system provider shall, before July 1, 2027, provide an accessible interface that allows an account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age bracket to applications available in a covered application store. (b) If an application last updated with updates on or after January 1, 2026, was downloaded to a device before January 1, 2027, and the developer has not requested a signal with respect to the user of the device on which the application was downloaded, the developer shall request a signal from a covered application store with respect to

that user before July 1, 2027.

1798.503.  (a) A person that violates this title shall be subject to an injunction and liable for a civil penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per affected child for each negligent violation or not more than seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) per affected child for each intentional violation, which shall be assessed and recovered only in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General. (b) An operating system provider or a covered application store that makes a good faith effort to comply with this title, taking into consideration available technology and any reasonable technical limitations or outages, shall not be liable for an erroneous signal indicating a user’s age range or any conduct by a developer that receives a signal indicating a user’s age range.

1798.504.  (a) This title does not modify, impair, or supersede the operation of any antitrust law. (b) This title does not require the collection of additional personal information from device owners or device users other than that which is necessary to comply with Section 1798.501. (c) An

operating system provider or a covered application store shall comply with this title in a nondiscriminatory

manner, including, but not limited to, by complying with both of the following: (1) An operating system provider or a covered application store shall impose at least the same restrictions and obligations on its own applications and application distribution as it does on those from third-party applications or application distributors. (2) An operating system provider or a covered application store shall not use data collected from a third party in the course of compliance with this title to compete against that third party, give the covered application store’s services preference relative to those of a third party, or to otherwise use this data or consent mechanism in an anticompetitive manner. (d) The protections provided by this title are in addition to those provided by any other applicable law, including, but not limited to, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (Title 1.81.47 (commencing with Section 1798.99.28)). (e) If any provision of this title, or application thereof, to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this title that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application,...

1798.505.  This title shall become operative on January 1, 2027.