Greece and four other EU countries will test the age verification application for use on the Internet, the European Commission announced today.

As part of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission today presented a prototype age verification application for internet users, in order to prevent children from accessing harmful and dangerous content.

According to the Commission, the verification application will be tested and further adapted in cooperation with five Member States: Greece, Denmark, Spain, France and Italy. These countries will be the first to work with the Commission on the technical solution to launch national age verification applications.

“The age verification app prototype is user-friendly and protects privacy by setting a ‘gold standard’ for age verification online,” the Commission stresses. It will, for example, allow users to easily prove that they are over 18 when accessing restricted adult content online, while retaining full control of any other personal information, such as the user’s exact age or identity. No one will be able to monitor, view or reconstruct the content consulted by individual users, the Commission notes.

In parallel, the Commission today presented guidelines for the protection of minors online. Among other things, the guidelines provide recommendations for dealing with addiction, bullying online, unwanted contact with strangers and harmful content. These guidelines for the protection of minors have been developed after research in cooperation with experts and public consultation.

The age verification project began to be developed in early 2025. It lays the foundations for the wider development of age-appropriate services in the future and is based on the same technical specifications as the European digital identity (eID) wallets to be developed before the end of 2026. This will ensure compatibility between the two and make it possible to integrate the age verification functionality into future eID wallets.

Commission Vice-President for technological supremacy, security and democracy, Hena Virknoonen, said: “Ensuring the safety of our children and young people online is of paramount importance to this Commission. The guidelines on the protection of minors on online platforms, together with the new age verification project, are a huge step forward in this regard. Platforms have no excuse to continue practices that put children at risk.”

Initiative based on the Greek plan to establish a single digital age of majority

It is worth noting that the online age verification app is based on the Greek proposal for digital age verification online, a solution already integrated in the Greek app Kids Wallet – which thousands of parents are already using.

The European “mini wallet” will have the ability to confirm the user’s age and aim to set “digital adulthood” at 15 years.

It is recalled that 13 EU member states had agreed with the proposal drafted on the Greek initiative and introduced at the Council of Telecommunications Ministers in Luxembourg with the support of France, Spain, Ireland and Cyprus. Age verification is one of the three main functions of the Greek Kids Wallet.

Given that the age of digital adulthood will be 15, younger minors will only be able to access social media with their parents’ consent. Without it, children will not automatically be able to access apps like TikTok and Instagram.