Europe’s age verification app reaches technical readiness

The EU age verification app has reached technical readiness and will be available for public use soon, according to an announcement from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EC Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy Henna Virkkunen.

The statement from the officials follows the release weeks ago of two sets of preliminary findings from investigations indicate that the largest online pornography platforms and Snapchat are not compliant with the Digital Services Act.

The statement begins with an acknowledgement of the “incredible opportunities” the online world can hold for children. It moves quickly on to the familiar litany of harms – bullying, addiction, reduced time spent outside, and exposure to predators.

A special panel on children’s safety online was formed by the EC in March to consider the challenge, and will hold its second meeting on Wednesday, and plans to deliver recommendations by summer.

A blueprint for the EU’s age verification app, developed by Scytáles and T-Systems, was originally released last July, and then updated in October to include onboarding with biometric passports and national ID cards, in addition to digital IDs, among other features. The partners behind the app delved into its features in a presentation at the 2026 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit.

The age verification app “respects the highest privacy standards in the world,” according to the announcement. “Users will prove their age without revealing any other personal information. Put simply, it is completely anonymous: users cannot be tracked.”

France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Ireland are identified in the statement as farthest along towards implementation, and plan to integrate it with their EUDI Wallets. Von der Leyen and Virkkunen say they hope more member states and the private sector will follow their lead.

Enforcement will “go hand in hand” with the new app, they say, adding: “Children’s rights in the European Union come before commercial interest.”

Luxembourg weighs social media restriction options

Contacto reports how the small founding EU member state wants to control children’s access to social media.

Luxembourg is advocating for an EU-wide directive standardizing the restrictions, rather than individual states creating their own.

The country’s national digital identity is on track for launch in December, and would be a viable method of age verification, a ministerial spokesperson told Contacto, as machine-translated.

A motion recently adopted in Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies calls for social media to be restricted to people 16 years and older. But efforts will need to go beyond age limits to include fostering stronger media literacy skills, the official said.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  EU age verification  |  Europe  |  Luxembourg  |  social media