The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday said the European Union’s age-verification app is technically ready and will be made available shortly.
This development came amid an EU-wide effort to better protect minors online.
Von der Leyen told journalists that “when it comes to the safety of children online, the situation is extremely worrying . One child in six is bullied online. One child in eight is bullying another child online.’’
Several national governments across the EU plan to introduce a minimum age for the use of social media platforms, but a reliable age verification tool in line with the bloc’s strict data protection standards has not been available.
Von der Leyen said that France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Ireland already announced they would integrate the app into their national IT systems.
Urging more countries to do the same, von der Leyen reiterated her concerns over the excessive social media use by young people.
“Social media platforms offer highly addictive designs, infinite scrolling that is feeding the addiction, short videos (for) snap attention spans, highly personalised content,” she said.
“This environment does not benefit young developing minds.”
Von der Leyen called for a “harmonized European approach” on measures to better protect minors online and said an expert group is to come forward with recommendations by this summer.
