Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story<\/p>\n
The European online age verification app is ready.<\/p>\n
The app works with passports or ID cards, is built to be \u201ccompletely anonymous\u201d for the people who use it, works on any device (smartphones, tablets, and PCs), and is open source. \u201cBest of all, online platforms can easily rely on our age verification app, so there are no more excuses,\u201d said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference on Wednesday. \u201cEurope offers a free and easy-to-use solution that can protect our children from harmful and illegal content.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is our duty to protect our children in the online world just as we do in the offline world. And to do that effectively, we need a harmonized European approach,\u201d von der Leyen said at Wednesday's press conference. \u201cAnd one of the central issues is the question, how can we ensure a technical solution for age verification that is valid throughout Europe? Today, I can announce that we have the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
This answer takes the form of an open source app that any private company can repurpose, as long as it complies with European privacy standards and offers the same technical solution throughout the European Union. The user downloads the app, agrees to the terms and conditions, sets up a pin or biometric access, and proves their age through an electronic identification system, or by showing a passport or ID card (in which case biometric verification is also provided). The app does not store your name, date of birth, ID number, or any other personal information, according to the European Commission\u2014only the fact that you are over a certain age.<\/p>\n
After that, when a person using the app wants to access a social network (minimum age: 13), pornographic site (minimum age: 18), or any other age-protected content, if they are logged in from a computer, they need only scan the QR code shown on the site they want to visit. If, on the other hand, the person logs in from a smartphone, the app sends the proof of age directly. The platform does not access the document with which the user proved it in the first place.<\/p>\n
The need to introduce a common system for the entire European Union has been discussed for some time, and according to commission technicians, the technical work is now complete. Of course, it will still be possible to circumvent the system\u2014all it takes is for an adult to lend their phone to a younger friend\u2014but the technological architecture exists, and it will be up to EU member states to decide whether to integrate it into national digital wallets or develop independent apps.<\/p>\n
For the app to really be effective, platforms must be obligated to verify the age of their users\u2014that's where things get tricky. The Digital Services Act, which went into effect in 2024, requires \u201cvery large online platforms\u201d\u2014those with more than 45 million monthly users in the European Union\u2014to take concrete steps to mitigate systemic risks related to child protection, with heavy penalties for noncompliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that's why Europe has the DSA: to call online platforms to their responsibilities. Because Europe will not tolerate platforms making money at the expense of our children,\u201d European Commission executive vice president Henna Virkkunen told a press conference. She added that after an investigation into TikTok, the European institutions plan to take similar action against Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, as well as four porn sites. \u201cSince the platforms do not have adequate age verification tools, we developed the solution ourselves,\u201d he concluded. In short, as von der Leyen also remarked, \u201cthere are no more excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, this is the European framework that sets the general rules. On this basis, member states can consider more restrictive measures. Italy was among the first to discuss how to regulate the use of social media by minors but has so far not landed on anything concrete. Elsewhere in the EU, France's Emmanuel Macron has been a trailblazer on the issue, pushing France to discuss a rule to ban social networks for minors under the age of 15 entirely. So far, this measure has received broad political support\u2014but the outcome depends largely on compatibility with the Digital Services Act and the availability of effective age verification systems like the app the European Commission just released.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on<\/em> WIRED Italia and has been translated.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story The European online age verification app is ready. The app works with passports or ID cards, is built to be \u201ccompletely anonymous\u201d for the people who use it, works on any device (smartphones, tablets, and PCs), and is open source. \u201cBest of all, online platforms can easily rely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-49178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}