European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that an EU age-verification app using zero-knowledge cryptography is technically ready and that bloc-wide minimum social-media age rules are being developed. Several EU member states including France, Spain, Austria, Denmark, and Slovenia are already drafting or enacting national laws with varying age thresholds. The Commission prefers a single EU-wide rule over 27 separate national laws, with a formal proposal expected before autumn. The age-verification system is designed to confirm age without revealing identity, and Apple and Google have been instructed to integrate it at the OS level. Meta, TikTok, X, and Snap are under active DSA investigations regarding their handling of minors. Privacy advocates have raised concerns about potential drift from age-verification toward identity-verification over time.
