September 18 — The European Commission has proposed restricting social media access for children under 13, with parent-supervised accounts allowed for users up to the age of 15. The plan would be supported by a free, open-source age verification app developed by the European Union.
The technology is designed to confirm whether a person meets a specified age requirement without disclosing their identity to the platform they are attempting to access.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU considered Australia’s approach when developing its proposal. Australia introduced a minimum age of 16 for social media access last year.
If approved, the proposed Kids Act would establish one of the largest coordinated restrictions on social media access for minors, covering an estimated 450 million people across the European Union’s 27 member states.
WHAT IS THE EU AGE VERIFICATION APP?
The European Commission introduced the smartphone-based application in April 2026. The system is currently being tested through pilot programmes in seven EU countries: Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
The Commission expects the technology to become available across the European Union by the end of 2026.
The same system is intended to support age checks for adult websites, an area already covered by requirements under the Digital Services Act.
Under the proposed Kids Act, platforms that fail to comply with rules concerning minors could face enforcement under the Digital Services Act, which allows penalties of up to 6% of a company’s global turnover.
The EU-designed framework is decentralised. While the European Commission establishes the technical standards and maintains the underlying code, individual member states would operate the system through issuers they approve.
Age proofs remain stored on users’ smartphones, rather than in a central European database. The system is therefore designed so that there is no single EU repository containing the ages of verified users or records showing which individuals have completed verification.
HOW WILL THE AGE VERIFICATION SYSTEM WORK?
Users would establish their age once through an issuer authorised by their national government. Depending on the country, the issuer could include a digital identity provider, bank or post office.
When the user subsequently visits a platform subject to an age restriction, the app would provide a digital confirmation indicating whether the person meets the required age threshold.
The platform would receive only a yes-or-no confirmation rather than the user’s identity or other personal information.
The system separates the organisation that issues the age proof from the organisation that verifies it. This is intended to prevent the issuer from learning which particular service the user accessed using the proof.
Each proof is designed for one-time use, limiting the possibility of tracking a person’s activity across different services. The system also states that identity documents and biometric information would not be retained.
Because the software is open source, its code can be examined by independent researchers and other parties.
The Commission says the central feature of its approach is a common technical framework that platforms can use instead of requiring each social media service to independently develop its own age-verification mechanism.
“Online platforms can easily rely on our age verification app. So there are no more excuses,” von der Leyen said.
HOW DOES THE EU APPROACH DIFFER FROM AUSTRALIA?
Australia adopted legislation establishing a minimum social media age of 16 but did not mandate a single government-developed technology for enforcing the restriction.
Instead, platforms were responsible for implementing age checks, including through commercial technology providers.
A trial examining the effectiveness of those systems found that none of 50 test accounts declaring an age of 16 were asked by platforms to provide age verification. Australian authorities have subsequently increased the maximum fines and warned that legal action could follow.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The European Commission’s proposal must still receive approval from both EU member states and the European Parliament before it can become law.
Several European countries are developing their own restrictions on minors’ access to social media.
Greece is legislating an under-15 restriction and has said it expects its national approach to align closely with the EU proposal. The country is targeting early next year for its legislation to take effect.
Spain is considering an under-16 social media restriction that is awaiting a parliamentary vote. Digital Transformation Minister Oscar Lopez has said age-verification systems need to “strike a balance with the right to privacy.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the message to the “techno-oligarchs” is that “childhood is protected by our democracies.”
France faces a different legal situation. Its Constitutional Council last month blocked a proposed national ban on social media access for children under 15, ruling that the measure represented an unconstitutional and disproportionate restriction on freedom of expression.
The French decision highlights the legal challenges surrounding age restrictions and privacy. National courts, alongside EU institutions and lawmakers, are expected to play a role in determining how any eventual European rules are applied.
