I would like to know if Manjaro will implement any age verification code into their distribution?
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I’ve moved the Topic as it’s not a Support issue.
We ourselves likely won’t be adding anything like this; however, we will inherit whatever comes from upstream unless one of our maintainers decides to change things … which I think is quite unlikely at this time. 
We will most likely be informed of such, if there’s a chance it will affect Manjaro users.
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As @BG405 said, Manjaro will not implement any age verification, but the systemd developers have already included an optional age field in their user database, and given that Manjaro uses systemd, this will then make it into Manjaro as well.
Furthermore, according to the latest discussions on this topic at the European level, it is up to websites — specifically described as “social media”, although this could of course be expanded — to implement age verification by way of official (i.e. government-authorized) authentication platforms in order to avoid abuse of private information by the advertising and social media platforms themselves.
Or put differently, websites that want — or are by law required — to implement age verification must do so by way of an authorized authentication platform, and not via any verification methods of their own, while an implementation at the operating system level isn’t even part of the discussion.
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I heard he got a lot of hate when he implemented it. Great, I’d like the system to remain free of that, as I’ve heard more than once that some systems are already implementing age verification.
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It’s a very controversial subject, mostly because of how stupidly narrow-minded that law is on the one hand — with politicians once again exhibiting how disconnected they really are from the world — and on the other hand the panic-stricken reactions from distributions.
The systemd developer who implemented this field did not decide to await any official protests against these new laws in the form of class action lawsuits, but at the same time, he made it an optional field, and therefore, no one is actually obligated to set any information in there, or if they do, information that is actually accurate and truthful.
Either way, the European Union appears to — at least for now — be just a tad more sensible in this regard than Brazil and the respective US states which have implemented these laws, and the EU is also far more strict and protective of its citizens’ privacy than the USA, where corporatism is king and even government agencies are known to sell people’s private information to the corporate world.
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Stop listening to rumours. Some distros, and Hardware manufacturers, who ship Linux based Operating Systems, are based in US States that have voted to implement Age verification Laws. Those Manufacturers and Distros are subject to those Laws, and are legally required to at least be prepared to implement Age Verification.
However. It is not set in stone, yet, as to whether Those Manufacturers, and/or Linux Distros, based in the US will be required to implement age verification.
There are many legal twists and turns that have yet to play out.
In fact it may have no affect on Open Source Software, as FOSS, is, in the US, currently considered, legally, as a form of Speech…and we all know how the yanks feel about Free Speech.
Indeed, now that it is out in the open, as to who is behind these laws, there may actually be a better chance that those organisations, that are fighting them, can manage to have this resolved in our favour.
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Most likely yes. Manjaro will add age verification as needed. We are currently in close discussion without Sister-Project BigLinux from Brazil, which is based on Manjaro. There the law is already in effect and BigLinux complies already. Therefore we will see how their tools can be integrated into our distribution as well. The goal is also to comply to other laws from the states and UK and upcoming laws from the EU. An initial version of the upcoming parent control feature can be viewed here: Notice: ECA Digital – Law No. 15,211/2025 might affect users of Brazil by 17.03.2026 - #2 by rruscher
Further details can be found here: GitHub - biglinux/big-parental-controls · GitHub
Some might not know, but also Vietnam is needing similar solutions to reduce screen time for kids. Also China has similar rules already.
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In Europe they’re going to do it by forcing social media networks to require a login through a government-authorized authentication system, such as Itsme, or an eID card reader, or something similar.
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I wouldn’t be suprised, if this age verification will be finally realised to track us online.
And after time there will be probably added a always online connection/service.
Of course its always for our kids and no mass surveillance at all 
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Well, if similar code appears in Manjaro, I will most likely look for another distro or create my own where it doesn’t exist.
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what does age verification has to do with installing an OS?
as long as it’s just a checkbox; “yes i’m 18” i will tolerate it.
if it comes baked with other intrusive code and requirements I’ll look for an alternative.
privacy is one of the key selling points of Linux.
this just might be the first step toward a worse case scenario.
as an alternative,people from countries where it’s mandatory should be directed toward ISOs where it’s implemented but not everyone should be affected.
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I was rather shocked yesterday how fast this lunacy is spreading.
Yesterday I was looking at some automotive website — yes, a car magazine — and from the moment the page opened in my browser, it asked me whether I was 18 or older. WTF? Is it already against the law now to look at a written car review if you’re under 18? 
Luckily, it turned out that this was only a cookie wall, and by rejecting the cookies for that site — which does of course put at least one cookie on your computer — I could read the article. 
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I guess this discrepancy perfectly illustrates the communication problem within Manjaro’s development team, and why we published the Manjaro 2.0 Manifesto; Philip does what he does, but he once again neglected to bring this up among the Team. 
Either way, if Philip is going to implement this because of his business associations, then it can only be done at the level of calamares, and by using the optional age field in systemd. And this in turn means that it won’t change anything for already existing Manjaro installations.
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Initial version can now be installed via pamac install big-parental-controls. I might add some modifications to the app and might re-release it with Manjaro branding and functions …
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As @philm already posted, it will happen ‘as needed’, which i understand as per country legally enforcing it.
There are already countries enforcing it, so if Manjaro wants to be present in those ‘markets’ as a distro it has to comply.
What bugs me most, is that all this noise about the law in California, Colorado & Illinois - age verification at device, eg. OS level - is just another ‘branch’ of the TechBro’s feud who will bear the burden of the inevitable age verification.
Meta & Google, amongst others, championed the California law, though both have another dispute regarding another age verification system ( App-Stores vs Apps) in Louisiana, Texas, and Utah.
Meta is actively lobbying to implement verification at either OS or AppStore level as it doesn’t want to face the same fines as in the EU, where, like @Aragorn pointed out, it’s -until now- up to Facebook et al to implement it and pay the fines if not.
TBF though, i fear we’ll all have to accommodate with some sort of ‘control’ in the short/mid term.
Age verification as OS level is - in the eyes of politicians- indeed the most convenient way to enforce it.
Google joining Meta in California and the other states is kinda weird because of Android & Chrome OS, but there seems to be some benefits.
So let’s just hope that most states will not follow the California path, as i bet that it will then swap over to the EU, given enough lobbying.
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And Apple, arguably one of the biggest proponents of this new kind of surveillance. 
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Based on @philm earlier statement regarding working with Big Linux, this, I believe is the software he is talking about.
I noticed something in the README
③ Declares the child's age group (ECA Digital Range): │
│ │
│ 0–12 │ 13–15 │ 16–17 │ 18+ │
│ │
│ ← This is NOT self-declaration by the child.
My immediate question was, ‘what happens when the child moves to a new age bracket?’
There appears to be no mechanism that recognises the child has aged.
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There’s also the fact that in the UK we don’t generally use those age brackets. It’s 18 for access to anything considered “adult” or, in recent years, the signs in certain stores have higher age restrictions for e.g. alcohol like 21 and even 25.
Free society ..?
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Well, there is a social media ban on children under 13 in many countries now. In Australia it’s under 15, but in Belgium and France it’s under 13.
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