EdLaw
Digital Age Assurance Act — Civ. Code §§1798.500–1798.505
The Digital Age Assurance Act as it stands in the code: definitions, the operating system provider's account-setup age interface and age-bracket signal, the developer's duty to request and act on the signal, enforcement, and the operative date.
Civ. Code §1798.500
For the purposes of this title:
- (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.
- (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 distributes extensions, plug-ins, add-ons, or other software applications that run exclusively within a separate host application.
(g) “Operating system provider” means a person or entity that develops, licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer, mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device.
(h) “Signal” means age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system to an application.
Civ. Code §1798.501
- (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:
- (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.
- (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 developer that indicates that a user’s age is different than the age bracket data indicated by a signal provided by an operating system provider or a covered application store.
- (3)
- (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a developer shall treat a signal received pursuant to this title as the primary indicator of a user’s age range for purposes of determining the user’s age.
- (B) If a developer has internal clear and convincing information that a user’s age is different than the age indicated by a signal received pursuant to this title, the developer shall use that information as the primary indicator of the user’s age.
- (4) A developer that receives a signal pursuant to this title shall use that signal to comply with applicable law but shall not do either of the following:
Civ. Code §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.
Civ. Code §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.
Civ. Code §1798.504
(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, and to this end the provisions of this title are declared to be severable.
- (1) A broadband internet access service, as defined in Section 3100.
- (2) A telecommunications service, as defined in Section 153 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
- (3) The delivery or use of a physical product.
(g) This title does not impose liability on an operating system provider, a covered application store, or a developer that arises from the use of a device or application by a person who is not the user to whom a signal pertains.
Civ. Code §1798.505
This title shall become operative on January 1, 2027.