- 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 this technical solution
- The United Kingdom has enforced mandatory age control on Friday 25 July 2025 and triggers the concerns of citizens’ digital rights
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 revealed by the Europe Commission on July 14, 2025.
The message came less than two weeks before the UK enforced mandatory age verification control on July 25. These have so far given rise to concern about privacy and security of British users, which is burning an increase in use among the best VPN apps.
EU age verification blueprint
As the Europe Commission explains on its website, Age Verification Blueprint allows users to prove that 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 and fully interoperable with future European digital identity wallets,” the commission explains.
The introduction of this technical solution is an important step in implementing children’s online security rules according to Digital Services ACT (DSA).
Legislators ensure that this solution seeks to set “a new benchmark to protect privacy” in age verification.
This is because online services will only receive evidence that the user is 18+ without personal information attached.
Further work on the integration of zero-knowledge evidence is also in the process of full implementation of compulsory controls in the EU expected to be enforced in 2026.
What happens in the UK?
As of Friday, July 25, millions of Britons must be ready to prove their age before accessing certain sites or content.
According to the Online Security Act, websites showing only adult content must prevent minors from accessing their services via robust age control.
Social media, dating apps and game platforms are also expected to verify their user’s age before showing them so-called harmful content.
As the UK’s regulator organ, of ofCom explains on its site, service providers can use more methods to confirm the users’ age. These span from facial scans to estimate people’s age to bank or credit card control, ID sign books, mobile network operator’s age control, photo-id-matching, And even email-based age determination.
The vagu unit knows what constitutes harmful content as well as privacy and security risks associated with some of these age verification methods has attracted criticism among experts, politicians and privacy -conscious citizens who fear a negative impact on people’s digital rights.
While the EU progress works better on paper, it is left to see how the age verification scheme will eventually be enforced.
Comment on this point said CEO of the Swedish VPN provider, Mullvad, Techradar: “EU [approach] Is more planned, it took the EU 12 years. In the UK looks like [there is] No plan at all. “
