MX Linux Pushes Back Against Age Verification: A Stand for Privacy and Open Source Principles by George Whittaker on April 2, 2026

[Condobloke]

ADMINISTRATOR'S NOTE: I am locking this Thread for the time being, as Staff determine a Policy in this matter. My reasons are outlined in #6. If the thread is unlocked, I will remove this note. Thanks to all for your patience. Wizard

MX Linux Pushes Back Against Age Verification: A Stand for Privacy and Open Source Principles | Linux Journal

www.linuxjournal.com

Conclusion​

MX Linux’s rejection of age-verification requirements highlights a deeper debate about the future of open-source operating systems. As regulatory pressure increases, Linux projects are being forced to choose between compliance and core principles.


For MX Linux, the answer is clear: privacy, user freedom, and simplicity come first.


Whether other distributions follow the same path, or take a different approach, remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: this issue is far from over.

 

[APTI]

I think we need to stop with the bubble wrap on the world. If life was meant to be safe it would all be made out of nerf.

That said, age verification should be the job of the parents, this whole push is just handing off the issue to somebody else. And we all know if you want it done right, do it yourself.

bottom line we are barking up the wrong tree. When does it end? people and parents need to take responsibility for their own actions. I remember my first hustler magazine when I was 11 years old. We are all responsible for ourselves, opinion here is it should not be somebody else's problem to enforce your morality. May not be a popular opinion but it is realistic.

 

[bob466]

Linux.org asks for your age...doesn't mean you give your correct age.

 

[osprey]

One needs to differentiate between indicating age, and verifying age. A forum may ask for a user's birthdate, but that's quite different to verification of a a birthdate. In the latter case, some external authoritative source is needed to verify the birthdate.

There's the socio-political issue of freedom and privacy which the link in post #1 addresses, and there's the more technical issue of the implementation of the means of verification.

As the article points out, the situation is "still evolving", but one possible consequence of enforcement of verification is that the legal mandate would involve websites refusing access to the computers that did not comply with the legislation. In that case, for example, a computer running MX that didn't comply, could suffer the consequences of limited internet access. Where would that leave the MX distro?

The question then arises as to the sufficiency of the systemd proposal of introducing an optional field for birthdate. Would that be sufficient, and would it be a verifiable birthdate?

The many different jurisdictions in the world mean that it's possible internet access changes and becomes less free in some places over time as legislative requirements become enforced. That's already the case in some countries.

The article points to the conflict between principles and compliance. Groucho Marx's comment comes to mind: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, I've got others". His characters were often hypocritical personalities who changed their principles to suit the occasion, which is embodied in his comment. These can be deeply disturbing issues. I hope there's legal protection for currently available freedoms that exist, but it's on tenterhooks at present.

 

[kc1di]

Thanks @Condobloke for post that link. MX is a good system and glad to see it taking a stand.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I have locked this thread for now, as it is a contentious issue and there have been several threads opened on the matter and subsequently locked.

That does not mean that Staff are taking an ostrich "head in the sand" approach. This issue is not likely to go away anytime soon, and Staff want to be consistent, transparent, and reasonable to elements of free speech from Members.

While the thread is locked, we will look for solutions, and we may have to adapt same, as situations change and develop.

Brian's @Condobloke 's thread is the first to include news from a major player in Linux, namely MX, and so it differs to the other threads, which were speculative and premature. I thank him for his input.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[wizardfromoz]

BTW - MX are not the first, nor will they be the last, to issue their stance.

If Members wish to read more, you can go to our Linux News subforum.

There, near top right,

Search

This Forum

(keywords) age verif

and you'll find articles referencing Garuda Linux, Arch Linux, Solus, Fedora, Debian and more.

HTH

 

[Rob]

Just a heads up that linux.org has collected age at signup for years so we should be fine on that front.

For anyone not following this closely, the short version is that California and a few other places passed laws requiring software platforms to collect or verify user age, mostly aimed at protecting kids from social media. The problem is nobody really knows if Linux distros and package repos even count as "platforms" under these laws. MX, Debian, Garuda, Zorin and others have all basically said they won't implement anything. California's law doesn't even kick in until January 2027 and it's not real verification anyway, just self reported age ranges. There are court challenges in progress so it makes sense to wait and see how those shake out before anyone does anything drastic.

The one nobody's heard from yet is Canonical, which is kind of the elephant in the room given how many distros are downstream of Ubuntu.