A Threat to Free Software? Android’s Lock Screen and Age Verification Laws
A paradigm shift? Google is closing down Android in the style of Apple, blocking third-party apps, while new age verification laws threaten anonymity on Linux. Free software is holding its ground, but the noose around your privacy is tightening.
23 de abr. de 2026 — Soldan
Two bad news items are hovering over the world of free software. On one hand, Google is adding more obstacles in Android, giving users even less control over their devices; on the other, under the pretext of verifying age on social media, the privacy of Linux users is being threatened.
Android is approaching its first 20 years of existence, just one year after Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone, which would set the standard for how mobile ecosystems should operate: closed cages where consumers can only use devices in the way the manufacturer intends. In the case of Android, the premise was different, or at least it was in its early days. Unlike iOS, Google's system is based on free software: the system's code is published and released, giving users more freedom with their devices. Simple things like transferring files via USB to the phone, as if it were just another USB drive, are impossible on iOS but not on Android. And what if you want to install an app outside of the official store? In Apple, don't even dream about it. On Android, that has always been allowed, of course, with certain warnings to avoid falling into malware.
An Apple-like closed shopping experience
Unfortunately, Android is increasingly putting up barriers to its ecosystem, closing it off more and more. This is due to a combination of factors that we can divide into two fronts. The first concerns smartphone users: none of them think there’s a world beyond the Play Store. Very few install software from outside there. But paradoxically, the reality is that most malware is installed from Google's own store: scams and fraud circulate on social media and apps like TeamViewer or similar, not so much outside of the stores. Under the guise of protecting users, the company has decided on a radical change in its policy that will take effect starting in September: if someone wants to install an app outside of the Play Store, that app must come from a developer verified by Google. That verification, as you can imagine, comes with a requirement: the developer has to pay for it. A classic monopolistic practice from Apple, now transferred to Android.
On one hand, Google is adding more obstacles in Android, giving users even less control over their devices; on the other, under the pretext of verifying age on social media, the privacy of Linux users is being threatened.
Most users may not care about this, but from this digital trench, we've always been a bit against the current. We’ve been promoting various ways to use our smartphones. There’s the possibility to change the stock Android system on phones, but sometimes that’s not possible due to model incompatibility or simply a lack of knowledge on how to do it. We have the option to use less invasive and spying apps than those that come pre-installed on devices, which can be installed through F-Droid, an alternative store for free, safe software.
Leonardo Mangialavori
However, these types of options will be eliminated by the new Google regulations. The verification of developers will make it impossible to install the store or its apps on a stock Android phone. According to public statements from one of the board members of F-Droid: “They [Google] say they want to stop malware. That sounds great, but they should show their definition of malware and prove that this definition follows a consensus among security experts and the community. But they just say ‘malware is what we say it is,’ and when tomorrow they say that VPNs are malware, well, we’ll have to say goodbye to VPNs.” Even though Google lost a lawsuit against Epic Store, which accused it of monopolizing the platform, and although the court ruled that Epic was right, these types of measures show that Google is not interested in leaving room for other stores within its shopping experience.
The other plot: age verification and Linux confusion
Meanwhile, we see that many countries are starting to legislate against the use of social media by minors. Too late, the West remembered the problems generated by social media platforms run by computing oligarchs. In the end, the Great Chinese Firewall wasn’t so bad or repressive; it was the perfect barrier against applications created by the moguls. Now that the heat is on, there’s an urgency to legislate haphazardly around user ages on the internet. This obviously brings countless problems, and the most important one relates to age: how do we verify that someone is the age they claim to be? For that, there’s no option but to upload the corresponding documentation or, more in line with current trends, conduct a biometric verification. Both options imply a definitive farewell to anonymity on the internet and a direct user-physical person link, which opens the door to content segmentation by age range. But this doesn’t only impact social media; it also affects the world of Linux and operating systems in general.
Juan Ruocco 🧙♂️
Let’s take the case of the legislation adopted by the State of California regarding this matter. The Digital Age Assurance Act signed on October 13, 2025, and effective from January 1, 2027. This means that those who distribute operating systems and app stores must create mechanisms to verify the age of their users and classify them according to age ranges (under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, and 18 and over), to ensure that minors cannot access inappropriate content. In the European Union, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Australia, there are similar legislations, but it’s unclear whether they will also apply to operating systems. The truth is that many Linux distributions are already starting to prepare for this. A few weeks ago, a lot of attention was drawn to a screenshot from a Brazilian user who wanted to download the 32-bit version of Arch Linux and was denied. The reality is that the legislation specifically passed in Brazil should not interfere with Linux. But that’s not the case with California’s regulations, as it will require the use of an API that reports users' age ranges. And while this is only declarative (no one verifies that the records are true), it opens the door to sharing more information.
Prepare for the worst
These changes could be the precursor to a new paradigm regarding people's digital autonomy. If the solution to curb the mental breakdown caused by tech moguls is to verify age through biometric methods, we're in deep trouble: essentially, we're still giving away more information to the same digital captors who have destroyed (and continue to destroy) the human psyche with their ecosystem of digital addictions. If we let Google keep shutting down its store, what guarantee do we have that it won't push for even stricter controls, as F-Droid points out? Nothing would stop them from soon banning apps they deem malware. Worse yet, forcing developers to verify their identity puts them at tremendous risk: who guarantees that if a country needs to know who developed a particular app, it won't use Google's information to take some form of retaliation? This is precisely the concern raised by some developers, including those involved with the Guardian Project, a project that develops free software applications for organizations and individuals who want to maintain their privacy.
Essentially, we're still giving away more information to the same digital captors who have destroyed (and continue to destroy) the human psyche with their ecosystem of digital addictions.
Whether it's to break free from Google's grip or to bypass age verification, the current solution is the same: each of us needs to take control of the situation. The Keep Android Open campaign aims to navigate the threat of tighter restrictions in the future: it's still possible to install de-Googled Android distributions. But it's only a matter of time before Google goes after that alternative too. All their measures (false solutions to problems they themselves created) lead to greater obstacles and limitations on user autonomy, benefiting only those same companies that sell phones and application ecosystems. For now, there isn't much awareness in society about what to do.
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