Five EU members test online age checker
Five EU member states are set to test a blueprint for an age verification app to protect children online. The European Commission aims to shield them from harmful content and the impact of social media on their mental health.
After tests are completed and any necessary adjustments made, an app will be rolled out across the entire EU at the beginning of 2026 that will protect children in accordance with the rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The five member states are France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Greece. Together, they have about 222 million inhabitants, of whom an estimated 38 million are under the age of eighteen.
The European Commission announced the start of the public testing phase of the as-yet-unnamed app yesterday, through tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen.
With the blueprint app, users can easily prove that they are over 18. This way, minors who cannot provide such proof are protected from exposure to age-inappropriate and potentially harmful content.
Virkkunen explains that age verification is mandatory in high-risk situations, and recommended where risks are lower.
The Commissioner added: “Platforms should set children’s accounts to private by default to minimize unwanted contact with strangers. They should also disable features that could contribute to excessive use… We expect recommendation systems to prioritise direct feedback from minors over browsing behaviour.
“Platforms must prevent children from ending up in a vicious cycle of harmful ‘rabbit holes’. If a child indicates they do not want to see a certain type of content, it should not be recommended to them again.”
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