What began as an effort to bolster kids’ safety online has morphed in recent months into a broader debate over privacy and anonymity on the internet

Available for free to any company that wants to use it, the “completely anonymous” app puts the pressure on porn sites and social media platforms to start blocking access by minors.

By Alexander Chituc BRUSSELS, April 29 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday urged member states to quickly adopt its new age verification app to protect minors from harmful content online,

The European Commission says the app will be free, anonymous and available on any device and has told EU countries they must roll it out by the end of 2026. View on euronews

Among the players already visible in the European market for age verification are Yoti, which TikTok is using in Europe for this purpose along with other methods such as credit cards and documents, and Persona, which is an identity- and age-verification provider used by platforms such as Roblox, Discord, and Reddit.

Age verification strikes again.

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The Commission is urging member states to accelerate the rollout of the EU age verification app and make it available by the end of the year.

The law tries to crack down on minors using VPNs to access porn sites. But its vague wording could have unintended consequences, NordVPN and the Electronic Frontier Foundation warn.