April 25, 2026
Age gates, open gates, hot takes
Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Verification Bill
Colorado spares DIY apps from age checks — free speech fears, Big Tech blame, and “think of the kids”
TLDR: Colorado’s bill adds an open‑source exemption to age checks, but commenters are split: civil liberties worries, confusion over the fine print, and even Big Tech conspiracy talk collide with calls to “offer real tools for parents.” The carve‑out is a small win that sparks a much bigger fight.
Colorado’s age-check bill just carved out a big exception for open-source apps and operating systems — the kind of community-made software you can copy, share, and change. Sounds like a win for the geeks, right? Not so fast. The comment section is a battlefield. One camp is waving the Constitution, warning that this still normalizes compelled speech — the government telling people what to say — and that’s a slippery slope. Another camp says the exemption is fuzzy: if the law demands “no restrictions” on modified versions, do common open-source licenses (which require credit or keeping the same license) even qualify? Cue confusion and legal hair-splitting. The spice gets hotter: a popular hot take declares, “Meta is behind this,” igniting the Big Tech puppet-master narrative. Meanwhile, pragmatists clap back: parents need tools, so what’s your alternative if you don’t like age checks? The hardliners fire back with a simple motto: “Open or closed — just say no.” Between memes about tinfoil hats, quips about “age captchas” (“Click all squares with a person over 18”), and side-eyes at lawmakers, the vibe is: tiny win, big fight ahead. If you want the policy backstory, think “protect kids online” laws with messy details — see age verification and open-source software.
Key Points
- •Colorado’s SB51 age-verification bill was amended to include an open-source software exemption.
- •The amended bill passed in a Colorado House committee.
- •The exemption applies to operating system providers or developers distributing software under licenses permitting copying, redistribution, and modification without provider/developer restrictions.
- •The exemption includes the absence of technical or contractual restrictions on installing all modified versions.
- •As a result, open-source distributions and applications fall outside Article 30’s requirements in the bill.