Linux

Yes. For example, on iOS It'll work like this once this is no longer "in error" https://www.theverge.com/tech/884306/apple-age-verification-uk-users-ios-26-4-beta

I don't know about the new law in California, but here in the UK the age verification push is happening is because our young people are overwhelmingly left-wing and progressive, and get their news online and not from our captured legacy media, and the right-wing establishment doesn't like that, so they're trying to block young people from internet access.

Edit: wtf is with the downvotes? Do y'all support this shit? Here are some sources to back up what I said:

https://yougov.com/en-gb/trackers/voting-intention -

In the UK: 49% of 18-24 year olds are voting for the Green party, highest of any party by far. 27% of 25-49 year olds are voting for the Greens, with only 19% for Reform (the far-right party).

This trend reverses once you look at the age groups over 50, with 50-65 year olds favouring reform at 29% at Green's 16%, and over 65s favouring reform at 33% to Green's 6%.

Furthermore, the other demographics factors like gender and even region(!) don't demonstrate such a clear correlation, and this is further confirmed by another recent poll done where the surveyed were asked to pick between a left-wing coalition and a right-wing one:

Our elderly consume vastly more print and specifically television news than our young people - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/adult-and-teen-news-consumption-survey/news-consumption-in-the-uk-2025-research-findings.pdf?v=400636

See specifically figure 4 from page 9:

This is very inconvenient for a primarily right-wing establishment. I could see similar dynamics playing out in California though i don't know enough to say for certain.

Obviously I don't think this is the only reason that age verification is being implemented, especially as it's seemingly being done all around the globe all at once, and often companies with known links to Peter Thiel and Palantir and the defense sector are involved, such as with e.g. discord and Thiel did allegedly say he explicitly wants to make a surveillance state. Obviously countries like the UK have been speed running that goal for a while so, make of that what you will.

There's also seemingly bi-partisan support for this issue from establishment parties, arising from tech ignorance of the boomer class and more genuine, and well-meaning concerns about the spread of misinformation from social liberals and progressives, especially where their country's young people are turning to far-right misinformation.

I think the combination of these two factors is likely what is pushing the specific law OP is referring to in California, though this is just speculation as I'm not familiar with it's state legislature and their political makeup.

The recent push for these sorts of laws in Europe also could be explained by the fact that those countries can use regulation as leverage in trade negotiations with an increasingly beligirent united states because they know that Trump's regime is beholden to the tech oligarchy that amassed around him - the same oligarchy who would stand to lose money if these regulations were implemented because they own the platforms primarily targeted by this.

This last reason is further compounded by the fact that Elon Musk has genuinely been artificially promoting far-right content, including his own, on his platform, and he has been since he acquired it. Considering how many people use twitter, its a genuine risk to the political autonomy and democratic integrity of countries like France, which is also investigating twitter for the algorithm manipulation.