European Union prepares to launch online age verification app

The European Union’s online age-checking tool is nearly ready for release to citizens, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters on Wednesday. The European Age Verification App returns control to parents and teachers by protecting young users from dangerous and inappropriate content, von der Leyen explained. The application is technically ready for use now, but won’t be available to the general public for a few more weeks, she said.

One in six children is bullied online, and one in eight children is bullying other children online, she said. Children have never spent more time looking at screens and using addictive algorithms, while risking exposure to harmful content and online predators, she said. The EU aims to hold platforms accountable for not protecting children enough, since children’s rights come before commercial interests in the EU, von der Leyen added.

How will the app work? The commission president characterized the app as easy to use while functioning with the highest privacy standards in the world. Users can prove their age with a passport or ID card, but users remain anonymous and can’t be tracked, she said. The app is also open source, which will allow anyone to examine its code, and available for use on any device, she added.

Age verification programs began growing in popularity over recent years, with Australia launching the world's first ban of social media usage by minors of ages 16 and under. Several states in the United States also posed or enacted laws requiring age verification of online users, including Arkansas, Texas, and Florida.

Dig deeper: Read Amy Lewis’s report in WORLD Magazine about Australia’s age-limited ban on social media use.