--- title: Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start... description: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed HB5511, the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act, requiring device makers, OS providers, and app stores to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age | daily.dev og:description: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed HB5511, the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act, requiring device makers, OS providers, and app stores to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Tb3tFmT1b.png og:image:alt: Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age **[It's Foss](https://daily.dev/sources/itsfoss)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed HB5511, the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act, requiring device makers, OS providers, and app stores to implement age verification by January 1, 2028. The law mandates collecting a child's birth date at account setup and converting it into one of four age brackets, which apps can then query via API. Once flagged as a minor, apps must enforce safety defaults including restricted feeds, hidden profiles, blocked adult messages, and nighttime notification blackouts. Violations carry fines up to $50,000. Unlike similar laws in Colorado and California — which were amended to exempt open source platforms like Linux after advocacy from figures like System76's Carl Richell — Illinois HB5511 contains no open source exemption, leaving Linux and other freely licensed OS projects potentially subject to the same requirements as commercial platforms. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does Illinois HB5511 require from operating system providers for age verification? By January 1, 2028, covered manufacturers — including device makers, OS providers, and app stores — must build an interface at account setup that collects a parent or account holder's child's birth date. That date is converted into one of four age brackets: under 13, 13–15, 16–17, or 18 and up. Apps can then query this bracket via API, and all transmitted signals must be encrypted. Violations carry fines up to $50,000. _Developers building on or for open source platforms need to track how these state-level OS mandates evolve — daily.dev keeps that thread visible._ ### Does Illinois HB5511 have an open source exemption like Colorado's age verification law? No. Illinois HB5511 contains no open source exemption. Colorado's SB26-051 and California's AB-1043 both originally lacked such exemptions, but were amended after advocacy — Colorado's after System76 founder Carl Richell worked directly with lawmakers, and California's via a follow-up bill AB-1856 that redefines 'operating system provider' to exclude freely licensed software distributors. Illinois HB5511's definitions remain as broad as those bills were before their amendments. _Open source maintainers navigating this wave of state-level OS legislation can follow developments across states on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Illinois HB5511: What It Means for Linux and Open Source](https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-hb5511-what-it-means-for-linux-and-open-source-iahbpku4g) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [US State Colorado Wants Operating Systems to Tell Every App How Old You Are](https://daily.dev/posts/us-state-colorado-wants-operating-systems-to-tell-every-app-how-old-you-are-aixirjuuj) · It's Foss · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [California’s Problematic Attempt To Add Age-Verification To Software](https://daily.dev/posts/california-s-problematic-attempt-to-add-age-verification-to-software-nnlkw7iz7) · Hackaday · 43 upvotes · 27 comments - [Age-verification in Operating Systems and the Internet by Alcides Fonseca](https://daily.dev/posts/age-verification-in-operating-systems-and-the-internet-by-alcides-fonseca-xyzu8kqy3) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b"},"datePublished":"2026-08-07T11:18:29.712Z","dateModified":"2026-08-07T11:19:05.770Z","description":"Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed HB5511, the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act, requiring device makers, OS providers, and app stores to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/50bf948a11671b38a5e4c63856dec90b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/50bf948a11671b38a5e4c63856dec90b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"It's Foss","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"It's Foss","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/582e3faed71842bfb9d3840a787d6700","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/itsfoss"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,linux,privacy","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It's Foss","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/itsfoss"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/illinois-just-told-every-operating-system-to-start-reporting-your-kid-s-age-tb3tfmt1b#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does Illinois HB5511 require from operating system providers for age verification?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"By January 1, 2028, covered manufacturers — including device makers, OS providers, and app stores — must build an interface at account setup that collects a parent or account holder's child's birth date. That date is converted into one of four age brackets: under 13, 13–15, 16–17, or 18 and up. Apps can then query this bracket via API, and all transmitted signals must be encrypted. Violations carry fines up to $50,000. Developers building on or for open source platforms need to track how these state-level OS mandates evolve — daily.dev keeps that thread visible."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does Illinois HB5511 have an open source exemption like Colorado's age verification law?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. Illinois HB5511 contains no open source exemption. Colorado's SB26-051 and California's AB-1043 both originally lacked such exemptions, but were amended after advocacy — Colorado's after System76 founder Carl Richell worked directly with lawmakers, and California's via a follow-up bill AB-1856 that redefines 'operating system provider' to exclude freely licensed software distributors. Illinois HB5511's definitions remain as broad as those bills were before their amendments. Open source maintainers navigating this wave of state-level OS legislation can follow developments across states on daily.dev."}}]} ```