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Illinois Just Told Every Operating System to Start Reporting Your Kid's Age
Illinois has become the latest U.S. state to pull operating systems into the age verification pool. Governor JB Pritzker has signed HB5511, the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act, putting forward a new age verification framework for every device sold or used in the state.
The bill imposes age check on "covered manufacturers," a category that lumps device makers, operating system providers, and app stores together.
By January 1, 2028, these manufacturers have to build an interface at account setup asking a parent or account holder for the child's birth date. That date is then converted into one of four age brackets: under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, or 18 and up.
The law also stipulates that all transmitted digital signals have to be encrypted.
Applications can then pull that bracket through an API once a user downloads or launches them. Once they get a signal marking a user as a minor, they're legally treated as having "actual knowledge" of that.
Once flagged, apps have to turn on a set of safety settings. Feeds get restricted, profiles get hidden from adult strangers, messages from adults get blocked, precise location gets masked, and notifications go dark between 10 PM and 7 AM.
Parents can override these defaults for their kids, and minors over 16 can do it themselves too.
Apps have until July 1, 2028 to start requesting these signals, and violations can cost up to $50,000 each, enforced by the state Attorney General. Device manufacturers and apps acting in good faith aren't liable if a signal turns out wrong.
Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz led the bill through the House, with Reps. Margaret Croke and Janet Yang Rohr as chief co-sponsors, and more than a dozen others signed on. Sen. Willie Preston carried it in the Senate alongside Sens. Robert F. Martwick, Mary Edly-Allen, and Adriane Johnson.
It passed 82-27 in the House and 57-0 in the Senate before clearing final concurrence unanimously.