The EU is testing a prototype age verification app

“Ensure that our children and young people are safe online is of the utmost importance to this committee,” said the leader of the European Union’s technology policy. “The guidelines related to the protection of minors on the Internet, along with the new age verification scheme, are a big step forward in this regard. Platforms have no excuse to be continuous practices that endanger children.”

The age verification application is designed to allow users to prove that they are exceeding 18 years when accessing the content of adults registered online, helping the European Union to eliminate platforms that fail to meet the obligations under laws such as DSA, and enable companies to adopt the mass verification tools box instead of developing them. The European Union Committee says that the application users will keep full control of their personal information, such as age or their identity exactly, and that the online content will remain in particular.

The initial model of the App Fear-APP application will be tested and customized in cooperation with member states, online platforms and final users, “according to the European Union Committee, with Denmark, Greece, Spain, France and Italy aims to launch national age verification applications. It is placed as a temporary solution that will be replaced by the European Union’s digital identity portfolio that is expected to be launched in 2026, which aims to provide A means “for European citizens, residents and companies to prove those when they are access to digital services” and a place “to store and sign important digital documents.”

Although the bloc’s DSA bases book does not impose specific requirements to verify age, websites and online platforms are obligated to protect “health, physical, mental and ethical development” for minors who use their services, and providing them with “the highest level of privacy, safety and security”. The new guidance urges online platforms to address concerns about exposing children to harmful content, online reactions, unwanted interactions with strangers, and addiction design features.

In May, the European Union launched investigations into four large adult content sites – Pornhub, Stripchat, Xnxx and XVIDEOS – due to fears that they were failing to get the appropriate age verification tools to prevent children from accessing porn content. The committee said at the time that it was open to accept the obligations that would address these concerns, which may include the implementation of the application of the European Union verification.