Jana Kazaz

In the United States, courts have recently issued rulings that place new responsibility on tech companies for the safety of young users, effectively applying principles strikingly similar to those found in the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). A court in Los Angeles found Meta and Google negligent for designing platforms in ways that harmed a young user in a landmark case, ordering both companies to pay roughly $6 million in damages. Just days later, a separate court in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay about $375 million in civil penalties for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabling harm to children.

This worldwide concern over protecting minors online, which has driven recent judicial decisions in the United States, is clearly reflected in developments across EU countries as well. Several European governments have openly deliberated or proposed prohibitions on social‑media access for minors, with France advocating restrictions for those under 15, Spain pushing for a minimum age of 16, and Greece and Denmark supporting an EU‑wide rule that would bar minors from accessing platforms without parental consent.

Against this backdrop, data from nine European countries reveal a strong consensus. The CEDMO Tracking Survey conducted in December 2025 shows that nearly three-quarters (about 73%) of respondents of EU countries covered support legally requiring online platforms to implement privacy‑preserving age verification tools. This level of agreement is unusually high compared to most other questions related to digital regulation, which tend to vary and polarise along political, cultural, or generational lines. 

On average, 73% of respondents agreed that online platforms should be legally required to implement age verification while protecting users’ privacy.

Support is high across all of the nine covered countries, but not uniform. In Germany and France, backing exceeds 75%, while in Czechia and Poland, the most sceptical in the sample, it stands at around 69%.  The Tracking Survey also tested support for a European age‑verification application that uses minimal personal data, essentially confirming whether a user is over 18 without sharing any additional information with platforms. Nearly two‑thirds (about 63%) of respondents support such a privacy‑by‑design solution. 

Europe already has the legal tools

The EU already has the legal tools needed to introduce and enforce age-verification measures. Under Article 28 of the DSA, platforms accessible to minors must adopt “appropriate and proportionate” measures to ensure minors’ safety and privacy. Furthermore, the European Commission issued detailed guidelines on 14 July 2025, clarifying how platforms should meet these obligations and explicitly recommending the use of accurate, reliable and non‑intrusive age‑assurance methods as part of a broader safety‑ and privacy‑by‑design approach.

Building directly on these DSA requirements, the Commission is supporting the development of practical age‑verification tools that comply with the guidelines. One such tool, a privacy‑preserving age‑verification app, is being piloted in France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, and Italy, allowing users to confirm their age without sharing additional data with platforms. In parallel, the Commission is developing the EU Digital Wallet, another initiative designed to support DSA‑compliant age assurance. Currently piloted in six countries and expected to launch by the end of 2026, it will enable secure digital identification and could provide a standardised infrastructure for age verification across the Union. Despite this, only about one‑third of survey respondents knew such DSA‑aligned solutions were already being tested.

Strong support for platform accountability

Public support for platform accountability is equally strong. About 68% of respondents agree that the Commission should have the authority to require platforms to explain how their age verification systems work and how they prevent minors from accessing illegal content. This reflects broad backing for the kind of regulatory oversight already embedded in the DSA, even though only 22% of respondents report being aware of the DSA at all.

Concerns over social media’s addictive design, children’s screen exposure, and mental‑health impacts have intensified over the past years. People increasingly view online environments as a space where minors require structural protections, not just parental monitoring.

But not everyone is convinced

Yet, this broad support does not mean the picture is without nuance. About 31% of respondents view age‑verification tools as an infringement on users’ rights. This scepticism is highest in the Visegrad region (except Poland) and in Slovenia, and lowest in Estonia and Finland. Even more strikingly, about 40% of Europeans believe that implementing age verification under the DSA is an attempt to censor the online environment. In Hungary and Slovenia, this rises to roughly half of all respondents.

Importantly, these views are not mutually exclusive. Many people simultaneously support protecting children and worry about how such protections might be misused. The fact that 63% favour privacy‑preserving verification suggests the public’s scepticism is not about restriction per se but about design choices and institutional trust.

What this means for Europe

The findings of the CEDMO Tracking Survey offer a clear message for European policymakers: public expectations around protecting minors online are high, and they align closely with the obligations already set out in the DSA. Across 9 EU countries, respondents overwhelmingly support age‑verification measures, expect platforms to demonstrate how their systems work, and want regulatory authorities to have the tools to enforce compliance. 

At the same time, the data reveals a significant awareness gap. While the DSA provides a strong legal and operational foundation for age assurance, many Europeans remain unfamiliar with these instruments or with the new technologies currently being piloted to implement them. Bridging this gap between regulation and public understanding is essential if the EU is to deploy age‑assurance systems that are trusted, effective, and privacy‑preserving. The political momentum, public backing, and technical infrastructure are already in place; what remains is ensuring that these solutions are communicated clearly, rolled out consistently, and implemented in a way that strengthens, rather than undermines, public confidence.

To close this gap the EU should:

• Launch an EU‑wide communication campaign: Explain how privacy‑preserving age verification works and emphasise that it does not involve sharing personal data with platforms.
• Accelerate the development of interoperable, privacy‑by‑design age‑assurance systems: The age‑verification pilot and the Digital Wallet should be framed as long‑term infrastructure, not isolated experiments.

• Require platforms to demonstrate, not simply declare, the effectiveness of their safeguards: This includes independent audits, transparency obligations, and technical testing aligning with public expectations for oversight.

• Address concerns about censorship through transparency and minimisation: Clear guarantees that age‑assurance systems will not expand into identity disclosure or content control are essential for public trust.

• Coordinate across policy areas: Child safety, data protection, digital literacy, and platform governance should be treated as interconnected issues, not separate silos.

*The collection of data used in this text was funded by the National Recovery Plan as part of the project MPO 60273/24/21300/21000 CEDMO 2.0 NPO.

*This text has received funding from the European Union under the call: DIGITAL-2023-DEPLOY-04, project 101158609. This website reflects the views only of the independent Consortium, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.