Key points
- The aim of the app is to prevent children from accessing harmful online content
- It will allow users to easily prove they are over 18 years old: EU tech chief
- EU executive also published guidelines for online platforms to take measures to protect minors
ISLAMABAD: France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece will test an app aimed at preventing children from accessing harmful content online by checking users’ ages, the European Commission has said.
AFP reported that several European countries have ramped up the pressure on the bloc to better protect minors online through more stringent measures, with some going as far as to advocate banning social media for under-15s.
On Monday, the commission unveiled the prototype of an age-verification app that France, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Spain will customise to launch national versions within several months.
“It will allow users to easily prove they are over 18 years old, protecting children from inappropriate content,” AFP cited EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen as saying.
The aim is for each member state to develop their own app since they have different rules and may wish to tailor age limits for different services and social media platforms.
Digital rules
The 27-country European Union has some of the world’s strictest digital rules to bring Big Tech to heel, with several investigations ongoing into how platforms protect children — or fail to do so.
Once the app is available, users would be able to download it from an online store and then use it to verify that they are above the age to access a website or platform, AFP reported.
Reuters reported that the EU executive also published guidelines for online platforms to take measures to protect minors as part of their compliance with the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
EU regulators said the new guidelines would help online platforms to tackle addictive design, cyberbullying, harmful content and unwanted contact from strangers.
