California passes law requiring removal of actors’ ages on request

LOS ANGELES — California governor Jerry Brown has signed a legislation requiring subscription entertainment database sites, such as IMDb, to remove an actor’s age if requested by the actor.

The legislation, authored by assembly majority leader, Ian Calderon, was signed into law on Sunday (Singapore time) by Brown, according to the governor’s website.

“Subscribers should have control over whether their age and date of birth are posted on subscription websites used for employment purposes,” Calderon said in June, when the measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. Screen Actors Guild (SAG)-AFTRA lobbied for the legislation with president Gabrielle Carteris urging members last week to contact Brown.

“Age discrimination is a major problem in our industry, and it must be addressed,” she said. “SAG-AFTRA has been working hard for years to stop the career damage caused by the publication of performers’ dates of birth on online subscription websites used for casting, like IMDb. We are now in the final stages of securing the enactment of a California law that would help combat age discrimination by giving performers the right to request the removal of their date of birth when it’s included on online subscription sites.”

Opponents of the Bill contended that the removal of factually accurate age information across websites suppresses free speech.

Calderon said the Bill AB 1687 specifies that online entertainment employment service providers have five days to comply with a subscriber’s request to remove age information.

SAG-AFTRA, which reps about 165,000 performers, said on Sunday: “SAG-AFTRA has been working hard for years to stop the career damage caused by the publication of performers’ dates of birth on online subscription websites used for casting, like IMDb and StudioSystem. Currently, many websites used for casting proactively present birthdates and ages to casting decision makers who often can’t avoid seeing this information even if they try. This law will help improve the working lives of all SAG-AFTRA members and aspiring performers.” Reuters