Freepic
The Commission has made the protection of minors one of its enforcement priorities under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and continues to implement the Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) strategy to support and complement the DSA. Among other initiatives, the Commission is committed to a proportionate and risk-based approach to age verification.
The DSA requires all online platforms to ensure a high level of safety, security and privacy for minors. The DSA imposes specific obligations on very large platforms and very large search engines (“VLOPs” and “VLOSEs”) to address substantial risks to minors' well-being. These platforms must mitigate such risks by, for example, applying a robust age verification policy for all users, where appropriate.
The Louvain-la-Neuve Declaration calls on the European Commission to integrate tools from the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the European Digital Identity Wallet to ensure robust protections for digital service users in the Union, especially vulnerable groups like minors.
Therefore, a tender for "Development, consultancy and support for an age verification solution" was issued on 15 October 2024, with a budget of EUR 4 million, funded by the new amendment to the Digital Europe Programme.
The objective of the call is to develop technical specifications, with input from Member States and other stakeholders, for a privacy-preserving age verification solution. This will allow to verify that a user is aged 18 years or older without sharing any other information about the person. As part of the solution, a generic (white label) application supporting a Zero-Knowledge Proof protocol (a feature allowing to verify an attribute is true without disclosing any further details) could be developed and localised and published by Member States in the app stores. It may also be reused for other proofs or verification needs.