EU countries call for more comprehensive age verification controls for social media
19/05/2025 | EURACTIV
Spain, Greece, and France are lobbying the European Commission to quickly implement an EU-wide age verification system and establish a minimum age for social media access. A policy document obtained by EURACTIV reveals that digital ministers from the three member states argue that "poorly designed digital products and services" are contributing to various health issues in minors who are "constantly exposed to trivial or comparative contents."
The proposed solution involves accelerating legislative efforts to restrict minors' access to questionable and addictive content while simultaneously empowering parents to better control their children's usage of social media platforms and adult websites.
The Commission is currently developing an EU-wide age verification app as an interim measure until the EU Digital Identity Wallets are rolled out by the end of 2026. However, the three EU countries are calling for the app to offer more comprehensive functionalities, including supporting parental control mechanisms, enabling comprehensive age verification, and limiting minors' access to certain applications.
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