The European Commission is forcing age verification on the EU internet to protect kids from the ills of social media, without creating a new law – and without admitting that it’s forcing social platforms to adopt the technology.

My article on this for Information Security Media Group: https://www.govinfosecurity.com/europe-gliding-toward-mandatory-online-age-verification-a-31547 Including a detail I forgot to mention here – that the Commission is doing all this before hearing the findings of an expert panel who were tasked with advising it on exactly this subject!

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REFERENCES:

EC statement on Meta DSA breaches https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_920

Henna Virkkunen’s statement on age verification https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_921

BBC on Roblox and age estimation accuracy https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj94y9r0p10o

Virkkunen’s press conference

https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-288345

Politico report stating eight countries aren’t keen on the app https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-tells-eu-countries-to-use-its-age-check-app/

Molly Rose Foundation research on Australia’s social media restrictions https://mollyrosefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MRF_Australia-Social-Media-Ban-Research_Briefing-April-26.pdf