EU age assurance app raises question: should governments pay to protect kids from porn?

A truth that came into sharp focus at the 2025 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit is that discussing age assurance, in the main, means discussing pornography. While online sales of restricted goods such as alcohol, vapes and weapons are legitimate use cases for age assurance technology, for now, in terms of volume, porn is the driver: a recent study published in the journal Addiction shows that in North America, Europe and Australia, 70 to 94 percent of adults have watched porn in their lives.

Yet it is the ease with which children can access pornography that’s pushing regulators to require porn sites to go beyond self-attestation methods in checking the age of their users. The social impacts of mainlining porn while the brain is still developing are only beginning to emerge into the mainstream conversation – and the debate around age assurance is inextricably tied to it.

Perhaps the primary question facing the age assurance ecosystem at the moment is, who should be responsible – more specifically, who should have to pay for it, and shoulder the legal liability? There are plenty of variously conflicting and overlapping opinions on the matter, and a new faultline is emerging, as governments wade into the age assurance discussion with their own tech offerings.

EU age verification app causes consternation in global age assurance sector

The EU is developing a new age verification app, or at least providing an open-source template for member states to use in developing their own, according to a report from MLex’s Sara Brandstätter. A beta version of the white label app is in development with Deutsche Telekom and Swedish biometrics firm Scytáles, and is planned for release by the end of April, with the final product scheduled to go public this summer.

Brandstätter quotes EU official Robin Massart, who says that, while social media is also in the longer term regulatory mix, porn sites such as Pornhub, XVideos and Stripchat are currently one of the main targets for the app. “We’re essentially targeting, at this point, adult content,” says Massart, a policy official at the European Commission’s digital unit.

Government projects mean public money, and the question of whether age assurance for porn is a valid use of tax dollars hangs over the deployment of government-led initiatives. The UK has joined Europe in launching a UK.gov wallet product that could facilitate age assurance through mDLs, causing consternation among industry voices that governments could crowd out private enterprise, putting a damper on a burgeoning industry.

Brandstätter quotes Julie Dawson, chief policy and regulatory officer at Yoti, who points out that “there are age assurance approaches which are ready today, operating at scale globally that are accepted by industry, platforms, and consumers already.”

Others are making the same point, and preparing for a shifting landscape. The Global Age Assurance Standards Summit featured a panel moderated by the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) on “The Future of Age Assurance in the Face of Competition from Government and Big Tech” – conjuring not just the specter of the Man, but also the looming shadow of the tech giants that have defined most online experiences in the 21st century.

“The EU’s white label app aims to accelerate the ability to use the EU Digital ID wallet for age verification, and addresses some of the concerns that the Architecture and Reference Framework cannot support truly anonymous, authenticated online age checks,” AVPA Executive Director Iain Corby told Biometric Update in an email.

“It is inevitable that states will issue digital ID in one form or another, but we argue in favour of consumer choice, with many users reluctant to use a government-issued key to access the Internet.  We strongly support the principles of equality, portability, choice and interoperability required to deliver a vibrant, innovative and competitive public and private sector ecosystem for digital identities and age assurance.”

Various publics may have a hard time swallowing the idea that their tax dollars should pay to protect kids from websites that resist paying for online safety measures themselves. The bigger threat, perhaps, is Meta or Google seizing the age assurance mantle, further consolidating digital access among giants, and leaving independent providers behind.

Don’t call it a blockchain: tainted term puts commentator off ZKPs

As to the pornographers, a new podcast from The Atlantic may win them a measure of sympathy – both in justifying their claims that age assurance measures just send kids to noncompliant sites, and illustrating how far the mainstream media is from a comprehensive grasp of what’s feasible.

The conversation between Jerusalem Demsas and Zeve Sanderson weaves in and out of ethical and legal questions about porn. It reports on Pornhub’s deployment of age assurance in Louisiana, one of the few states with an established and trusted digital wallet, and on how the drop in Pornhub’s traffic more or less corresponded with a spike in traffic to its noncompliant rival, XVideos.

It also provides a useful example of just how toxified the word “blockchain” has become to the cause of privacy preserving digital identity. “I really hate saying this word at all,” says Sanderson, “but this is an application for a blockchain.”

Desmas laughs at him for this, to which Sanderson has to explain: “there’s been a lot of technical advancements in something called zero-knowledge proofs – so, essentially, a protocol in which one party can convince another party that some given statement is true, without conveying any information to the verifier beyond the fact of that statement.”

While Sanderson says he is “not a crypto person,” he concedes that “in general, thinking about genuinely useful applications of distributed technologies is interesting. And this might be one.”

Screen-free spaces, privacy-first design key to safe internet for kids

An EU initiative focused on youth mental health aims to establish the creation of screen-free public spaces and stronger age verification processes. MLex reports on a newly updated Council of the EU document that is being positioned as an “exchange of views,” or a formal record summarizing discussions on a particular issue among EU member states or institutions.

The document lays out thinking on safety by design, putting the onus on designers to  “take responsibility and understand how their choices can impact users.”

Much like unfettered access to hardcore porn at young ages, social media and its associated variables are rewiring young brains in ways science is just beginning to understand. Design features such as manipulative algorithms, dark patterns and addictive mechanics can negatively impact self-esteem and body image, increase stress and anxiety, and contribute to depression and behavioral issues.

While the EU document is not a law, MLex notes that addictive design will also be addressed in the upcoming Digital Fairness Act aimed at strengthening consumer protections in the digital space. And it is likely to take a law to change the established practices of businesses whose tactics have effectively allowed them to take over the world.

As long as they are allowed, Meta, X, large gaming platforms and other tech giants are likely to do what’s best for the bottom line. Expecting them to, in good faith, focus on “safety, transparency, diverse content and well-being from the start” is like expecting a shark not to gnash at raw meat.

Debates about online safety for children often take care to point out that the internet can be extremely beneficial for kids, enriching education, broadening social circles and providing endless entertainment.

But there is a reason the EU is proposing screen-free spaces, and recommending the development of policies to regulate schoolchildren’s access to digital technologies, including age assurance legislation. It is the same reason there are now a host of laws in the EU to address the issue.

The European Parliament’s briefing on selected EU, national and regional laws and initiatives to protect children online summarizes: although the internet has benefits for kids, “increased online presence also exposes children to numerous risks, including cyberbullying, fraudulent marketing practices, and sexual abuse and exploitation. The scale of these problems is alarming, with a significant proportion of children experiencing online harm every month.”

The briefing document covers the EU Digital Services Act, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the European digital identity framework, and more, and addresses issues such as “sharenting” and mobile phones in schools.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  children  |  digital ID  |  EU  |  regulation  |  Scytáles  |  zero knowledge