The European Union has rolled out a sequel to its COVID certificate system to enable its desired system of online censorship, noting that Ireland would be among the first countries to utilise the new system.
Speaking at a press conference, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explicitly compared the bloc’s new age verification app to the COVID pass system, suggesting that the new digital ID verification system would have a similar impact on society.
“The Commission developed the COVID app in record time… to help us bring us back to normal life in a safe way,” she said. “It was a huge success.”
“And now we are taking this success and applying it to the age verification app. It follows the same principles, the same model.”
Von der Leyen added that the app will enable Europe to force users off of social media platforms if they are unwilling or unable to provide government documents verifying their age and identity, though insisted all personal information gathered by the app would not be leaked.
“Europe offers a free and easy-to-use solution that can shield our children from harmful and illegal content,” she said, noting that Ireland would be integrating the technology into its upcoming digital identity wallet.
She added that this would mean companies will have “no more excuses” when it comes to censoring online content for children.
While the Commission president has insisted that the new app is both fully secure and ready to use, technical experts have already begun to challenge these claims.
During the press conference, von der Leyen insisted that the technology was “open source”, and usable on “any device”.
“Phone, tablet, computer, you name it,” she said, arguing that the app would be totally anonymous for users.
However, those researching the application’s GitHub source code have noted this is not the case, and that the app is heavily restricted to only certain versions of iOS and Android.
The application is furthermore dependent on third-party services provided by Apple and Google, respectively, requiring users to agree to End User Licence Agreements with third-party platforms in order to verify their age within the EU.
This external reliance also makes it unclear as to whether it is possible to run the application on versions of Android that lack sufficient certification from Google.
Contrary to von der Leyen’s claims, EU documentation also fails to include any instructions on how to run the application on computer operating systems such as Windows, MacOS, or Linux.
One GitHub user described the external reliances of the app, as well as its overall function, as “peak 1984”.
As of writing, the core software is only available for sideloading, with it not being accessible through either the iOS AppStore or the Google Play store.