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   After the UK, online age verification is landing in the EU   
      
   Date:   
   Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:00:35 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Five EU countries are set to test an age verification app to protect    
   children, despite privacy and security concerns.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   Five EU countries are set to test an age verification app to protect children   
   online.    
      
   Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy are the first to test the technical   
   solution unveiled by the European Commission on July 14, 2025.    
      
   The announcement came less than two weeks before the UK enforced mandatory    
   age verification checks on July 25. These have so far sparked concerns about   
   the privacy and security of British users, fueling a spike in usage amongst   
   the best VPN apps.   
      
   The EU's age verification blueprint   
      
   As the European Commission explains on its website, the age verification   
   blueprint enables users to prove they are over 18 "without revealing any    
   other personal information."    
      
   "It is based on open-source technology and designed to be robust,   
   user-friendly, privacy-preserving, and fully interoperable with future   
   European Digital Identity Wallets," the Commission explains.    
      
   The introduction of this technical solution is a key step in implementing   
   children's online safety rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA).    
      
   Lawmakers ensure that this solution seeks to set "a new benchmark for privacy   
   protection" in age verification.    
      
   That's because online services will only receive proof that the user is 18+,   
   without any personal details attached.    
      
   Further work on the integration of zero-knowledge proofs is also ongoing,    
   with the full implementation of mandatory checks in the EU expected to be   
   enforced in 2026.   
      
   What's happening in the UK?    
      
   Starting from Friday, July 25, millions of Britons will need to be ready to   
   prove their age before accessing certain websites or content.    
      
   Under the Online Safety Act , sites displaying adult-only content must    
   prevent minors from accessing their services via robust age checks.    
      
   Social media, dating apps, and gaming platforms are also expected to verify   
   their users' age before showing them so-called harmful content.    
      
   As the UK's regulator body, Ofcom explains on its website, service providers   
   can use several methods to confirm users' age. These span from face scans to   
   estimate people's age to bank or credit card age checks, ID wallets , mobile   
   network operator age checks, photo-ID matching, and even email-based age   
   estimation.    
      
   The vagueness of what constitutes harmful content, as well as the privacy and   
   security risks linked with some of these age verification methods, have   
   attracted criticism among experts, politicians, and privacy-conscious    
   citizens who fear a negative impact on people's digital rights.    
      
   While the EU approach seems better on paper, it remains to be seen how the    
   age verification scheme will ultimately be enforced.    
      
   Commenting on this point, the CEO of Swedish VPN provider, Mullvad , told   
   TechRadar: "The EU [approach] is more planned, it took the EU 12 years. In    
   the UK looks like [there is] no plan at all."   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/after-the-uk-online-age-ver   
   ification-is-landing-in-the-eu   
      
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