The EU application for age verification will not send the user's ID card or passport to the platforms.
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The European Commission says that the tool will only confirm if the user meets the age limit, without revealing their identity. The application will use technology that allows age verification without transmitting personal documents to social networks, video platforms, or other online services.
The European application prepared for age verification will not transmit the user's identity card or passport to online platforms, the European Commission stated. The service will only communicate if the person meets the age limit required to access a platform or function.
In short
The Commission is developing a European tool through which a platform can find out if the user is of the necessary age, without receiving the identity document or other personal data that are not necessary for verification.
The application will use a technology called "zero-knowledge proof." This allows confirmation of information, for example, that the user is over 13, 16, or 18 years old, without disclosing their name, date of birth, or a copy of the document.
The platform will receive a response regarding the fulfillment of the age threshold, not the information from the identity card or passport. The Commission says that the tool was designed to avoid providing additional data to online companies.
The application's code will be public, allowing developers and specialists to analyze it and propose improvements. The Commission insists that the system must maintain user confidentiality.
The tool is part of European preparations to protect minors online. The Commission has not yet presented the final form of any age restrictions and may announce the next steps after summer.
The European Commission has rejected claims that the European age verification application would allow mass surveillance of users. The spokesperson for the digital domain said that such accusations are unfounded and that data protection was one of the conditions set for the development of the tool.
The application is designed for situations where a platform needs to verify if a user has reached a certain age. Instead of receiving a photograph of the identity card, the full name, or the exact date of birth, the online service will only find out if the established threshold is met.
"No identity document and no passport will reach the platforms," said the Commission's spokesperson. He explained that the system will directly include a "zero-knowledge proof" technology, built to confirm age without revealing the information used in verification.
Such a mechanism can confirm, for example, that a person is over 18 years old without communicating whether they are 19, 35, or 60 years old. The platform receives the result of the verification but not the identifying data behind it.
The Commission says that this separation is necessary because platforms already hold large amounts of information about users. The institution does not want age verification to become a new way for companies to collect copies of official documents or additional data about people's identities.
The tool will be open source, meaning that programmers, researchers, and companies will be able to examine the code used. The Commission believes that publishing the code will allow for the identification of technical issues and improvements to the application before its wider use.
The application does not in itself represent a ban for children and adolescents. It is the technical infrastructure through which platforms could apply the age limits set by European or national legislation.
The discussion regarding these limits is still ongoing. The Commission is analyzing a differentiated approach based on the child's age and the type of service used. This may include social networks, video platforms, online games, chatbots, and so-called AI-based companions.
For children under 13 years old, experts consulted by the Commission have recommended restrictions that could allow access to certain services only under parental control. The Commission specified that a restriction is not necessarily a complete ban: a child could access age-appropriate content on a video platform, for example, if the parent controls the usage.
The institution has not yet decided whether it will turn the experts' recommendations into a legislative proposal. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is set to analyze the report received, and the Commission may present the next steps after the summer vacation.
The Commission prefers a common solution at the European Union level, so that the rules and age verification do not differ significantly from one member state to another. Any national measure must comply with existing European legislation, including the Digital Services Regulation.
Online platforms already have the obligation to assess and reduce the risks that their services create for minors. The Commission insists that the mere existence of "teen accounts" is not enough and that companies must demonstrate that the settings, recommendations, and features of their products are safe for children.
The age verification application is expected to provide the technical means for enforcing these rules without platforms receiving more data about users than they need.
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