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Social media bans for children are increasingly coming into force around the world, with many countries currently attempting to follow in Australia's footsteps by banning teens from accessing some online sites and services. Meanwhile, the challenge of how to verify for sure who is a kid and who is an adult is one that hasn't fully been solved.
The EU thinks it has the answer. On Wednesday, the European Commission announced an age verification app that will use legal identification to determine people's ages and work across phones, tablets and computers. The app "is technically ready and soon available for citizens to use," said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
Many EU member states, including France, Italy, Spain and Greece have proposed legislation that would shield children from harmful content and prevent them from using social media. The countries are planning to integrate the app into their national digital wallets, said von der Leyen. "This app gives parents, teachers, caretakers a powerful tool to protect children," she added.
Europe is far from the first region to identify the challenge of online verification. Last year, the UK introduced its Online Safety Act, which placed the burden on internet companies to ensure children aren't exposed to harmful content, and Australia brought in its social media ban, which blocked under 18s from accessing many apps and services. In the days after the legislation came into force, the number of VPN app downloads soared in both countries, as people attempted to circumvent age verification requests.
Rather than ask individual tech companies to take responsibility for proving their users meet age requirements, the EU seems to be taking a more centralized approach. By having one app that works across all services, people should only need to prove their age once in order to use the internet, potentially allaying many of the privacy and security concerns about the third-party age verification services.
When it comes to other issues involving child safety, the EU is less forgiving when it comes to holding individual services accountable. Earlier this year, the Commission ordered TikTok to change the design its "addictive" algorithm, which it said was in violation of the EU's Digital Services Act. If TikTok fails to comply with the request, it could face a fine of up to 6% of its annual globa turnover.
"We refuse to compromise on our children's wellbeing," said Commission EVP Henna Virkunnen in a statement on Wednesday. "We are taking similar action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Shein. This year, we also took action against four pornographic platforms all on the same grounds: They simply do not have proper age verification tools in place to keep our children away from their adult content."
