[MangoCoffee]

It's funny that more and more Chinese style laws are being passed in the West.

What's next? Chinese style social credit? You’ll need 800 points to run a sudo command?

Free society? Mass surveillance. The West is becoming more of a nanny state like China every year.

[ipnon]

California is becoming more like a nanny state. I don’t think a law like this would pass in North Dakota or Texas in a thousand years.

[cvhc]

No. Age verification law is not a partisan or ideological thing. It's a global trend. This law is sponsored by both parties: https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab... , and Texas has a newer law (App Store Accountability Act) that requires app stores to verify user ages and obtain parental consent for minors.

[EarlKing]

There are already "App Store Accountability Act"s present in Texas and Utah. I believe South Dakota is the other state that has one in their House right now. So no, this isn't California being a nanny state. Actually, California's is a lot better than the ones found in other states since literally you're allowed self-attestation of your age bracket (i.e. you don't have to supply an ID or some other such mechanism for independent verification). It's literally the equivalent of what they used to do with porn sites back in the day when they would ask you if you were over 18 -- and if you said yes, well, we tried! (Gold stars for everybody!)

In all seriousness, though, this is the only way where politicians get to pretend they did something and the rest of us get to avoid getting royally screwed. If parents were given dumbed-down versions of the tools that already exist to manage corporate-owned cell phones and laptops then there'd be a lot less for people to complain about (not that it would stop perpetually incompetent parents from pointing the finger at everyone but themselves for their own failings, of course, but at least the vast majority who AREN'T those people would be satisfied).