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Ireland is testing out a digital wallet that conducts age verification ...
Before it's publicly available later this year, the Irish government is trialing its Government Digital Wallet, which includes a way to verify a user's age to access social media platforms. In its press release, the government's Department of Public Expediture, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation said people can store digital versions of their birth certificates, driving licenses, European health cards and more.Frank Feighan, the department's minister, said that this testing phase would help inform the development of the digital wallet and ensure it was user friendly. The government hasn't laid out when the Government Digital Wallet graduates beyond the testing phase, but Ireland is required to create a digital wallet by the end of 2026 as part of a European Union regulation."It will be able to facilitate secure age verification capability as set out in Digital Ireland and the implementation of the Online Safety Code, under which designated platforms must have age verification measures in place to help protect, in particular, children and young people from online harm," Feighan said of Ireland's digital wallet.The pilot phase will be done on an opt-in basis and the government has a short survey available for comments and concerns. Along with Ireland, many other European Union member states are working on their own age verification methods. Earlier this year, Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced a law to ban social media for anyone under 16.
MEPs propose EU digital minimum age of 16 for social media without ...
The European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee adopted a report, in which MEPs express concerns over major online platforms’ failure to protect minors adequately and warn of the risks relating to addiction, mental health, and exposure to illegal and harmful content. The text supports the European Commission’s efforts to develop privacy-preserving age assurance systems, while warning that such measures must respect children’s rights and privacy, and do not absolve platforms of the responsibility to make their services safe by design. The MEPs propose an EU-wide digital minimum age of 16 for access to social media, video sharing platforms and AI (artificial intelligence) companions, unless authorised by parents – and a minimum age of 13 to access any social media. The report urges the European Commission to make full use of its powers under the Digital Services Act, including issuing fines or, as a last resort, banning non-compliant sites or applications that endanger minors. They also call on the Commission to: consider introducing personal liability for senior management in cases of serious and persistent breaches of minor protection provisions, with particular respect to age verification; ban engagement-based recommender algorithms for minors and disable the most addictive design features by default; ensure that recommender systems do not present content to minors based on profiling; ban gambling-like mechanisms such as “loot boxes” in games accessible to minors; prohibit platforms from monetisation or providing financial or material incentives for kidfluencing (minors acting as influencers); address the ethical and legal challenges arising from AI-powered nudity apps (that allow users to generate manipulated images of individuals without their consent); firmly enforce AI Act rules against manipulative and deceptive chatbots. MEPs support the idea that persuasive technologies, such as targeted ads, influencer marketing, addictive design, loot boxes and dark patterns, be tackled under the future Digital Fairness Act. The report calls for EU action to address manipulative features like infinite scrolling, autoplay, disappearing stories, and harmful gamification practices that deliberately exploit minors’ behaviour to boost engagement and spending. Rapporteur Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Denmark) said: “Our report clearly states the need for increased protection of minors online in two respects. Firstly, we need a higher...
Have Any Countries Tightened or Relaxed Age‑Verificati...
Executive summary Several countries tightened age‑verification rules for online pornography between 2023 and 2025, most notably the UK, France, Italy and a wave of U.S. states; at the same time, legal challenges and regulatory pushback created partial rollbacks or stalled enforcement in places such as Germany and Ireland [1] [2] [3].
Belgian regional government sets enforceable minimum age of 13 for ...
The measure builds on the "Safe Online" action plan approved late last year, which forewent a total ban up to age 16 in favor of strengthening protections for minors through age verification ...
