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5 EU Nations to Trial Age Verification App for Child Safety

Author: teresa_myers | 14 Jul 2025

France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Greece will soon pilot a mobile age verification app to protect children online, the European Commission announced on July 14.
The app builds on the technical standards of the upcoming European Digital Identity Wallet and aligns with national implementation needs.

Based on the technical requirements of the European Digital Identity Wallet, designed to launch soon, the mobile app is adaptable to the national needs of each country. The program is an extension of the overall Digital Services Act (DSA) regulation, which stipulates that platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok, and X must take an active approach towards removing negligent and illegal content.

The pilot addresses global concerns about social media’s impact on children and will run over the coming months. Using digital identity verification, it supports DSA enforcement, which has already placed platforms like TikTok and Meta under regulatory scrutiny.

The EU also published specific recommendations on online platforms, including a request to consider addictive design patterns, cyberbullying, and exposure to harmful content. The protocol emphasizes the necessity to limit uninitiated communication with strangers.

As per a statement by EU Tech Chief, Henna Virkkunen, platforms do not have an excuse to continue engaging in practices that expose children to risk.

Similar to efforts in other countries, such as Australia and various U.S. states, where severe actions, including the prohibition of social media use among minors, are undertaken, this EU effort is also part of an official response under the Digital Services Act to protect children online.

This presents an opportunity for providers of biometric identity verification to incorporate safe, privacy-conscious age verification. Protecting children from the threats of manipulative content and impersonation is becoming a legislative priority worldwide.