The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, unveiled with Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen the new app for age verification, an increasingly worrying issue across the bloc that the Commission is trying to address.
The Commission lauded several proposals from member states to block social media access for children, warning of the dangers of leaving them unprotected, despite the many positive insights the internet offers.
Studies cited by von der Leyen and Virkkunen in their address showed that one in six children is a victim of online bullying, while one in eight is an online bully.
Minors have easy access to all types of content, and the Commission is seeking to end this situation by holding platforms responsible and launching a new tool to tighten controls. As part of its efforts on the issue, the Commission also established a Special Panel on children’s online safety to work with all parties involved.
According to von der Leyen, the new age verification app will follow the protocol already experimented with during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on that experience, the new app will be more user-friendly. After setting it up with a passport or ID, it will allow access to online services. Von der Leyen promised “the highest privacy standards in the world” to users, with only age considered sensitive information and no trackers.
France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Ireland are working to integrate the app into their national wallets, but the Commission hopes more member states and the private sector will join. The app will be available shortly.
