The European Union has confirmed plans to force mandatory online ID checks for all social media users within the bloc.
Brussels has confirmed it wants to mandate that all netizens residing in the bloc to verify their ages with each social media platform they use.
Such restrictions will also extend to video games that contain online functionality, as well as to streaming services, online app stores and AI chatbots.
It is unclear whether this is an exhaustive list of services that will be restricted under the new rules, or whether more platforms will also face increased digital controls.
The new plans will come as part of the bloc’s new “KIDS Act” announced this week, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen billing the regulation as a way of protecting children.
Mandatory ID checks are being packaged with the new rules in order to ensure that no children circumvent the rules.
“Protecting children online is a priority for the European Commission. This is why we have proposed a new KIDS Act to introduce a gradual uptake of social media for children across the EU,” a Commission press release on the rules reads.
“It will apply to online services used by minors, including social media, video-sharing platforms, online games, and AI companions and chatbots.”
Under the rules, all children aged 12 and under will be totally prohibited from owning a social media account, with such restrictions being gradually relaxed as children inch towards adulthood.
“Online services and app stores will have to use tools to check users’ ages, while protecting their privacy,” it adds.
While the exact mechanism for age verification has yet to be fully determined, von der Leyen has aggressively pushed Brussels own in-house digital passport infrastructure as being one of the best ways to prove someone is an adult online.
EU member states have also been legally obliged to implement their own “digital wallet” identity systems for their own online services, with Ireland’s own version of the software seeing its beta testing process successfully complete earlier this week.
How effective such methods of verification will be remains to be seen, with some security researchers finding that von der Leyen’s own offering has serious software vulnerabilities allowing determined users to bypass online checks.