More protection for children and young people onlineNew EU guidelines and age verification app presented

How were the guidelines developed and what do they say?

The guidelines were developed by the EU Commission over a period of approximately one year. Civil society and, in particular, children and young people were involved in the process. A total of 13 young people from our klicksafe Youth Panel were also involved. As part of a so-called "Call for Evidence", they were able to inform the Commission, for example, which aspects it should consider when drawing up the guidelines. All 174 responses to this "Call for Evidence" are available online.

From May to June 2025, there was a "public consultation" on the guidelines. This means that the draft guidelines were available online and all citizens were able to provide feedback on whether the guidelines were useful or suggest changes or additions. A total of 331 responses were received as part of the public consultation on the guidelines, all of which are also available online.

The guidelines resulting from this process comprise 65 pages and canbe downloaded at https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/redirection/document/118226. To give an impression of the topics covered by the guidelines, we have picked out a few points as examples.

• Addictive functions should be restricted
  Platforms are asked to refrain from using manipulative design elements such as "streaks" (e.g. on Snapchat) or read receipts in chats for children and young people - to reduce the pressure to be constantly online.
• Stronger tools against cyberbullying
  Young users should be able to block or mute more easily. Joining groups should only be possible with their express consent. In addition, content from minors should not simply be saved or shared - to protect their privacy.
• More control over content recommendations
  Children should be able to decide for themselves what they want to see - and what not. If they reject certain content, it should not be suggested again. The algorithm should follow their decision, not the other way around.
• Private profiles for minors by default
  To prevent unwanted contact, profiles of children and young people should automatically be set to "private" - not publicly visible to strangers.

What is the EU planning with regard to age verification?

At the same time as publishing the guidelines, the EU Commission has also developed a prototype prototype for an age verification app presented. This was developed in such a way that the underlying system is privacy-friendly and works without the disclosure of personal data. This website explains how age verification works and how to ensure that no personal data is collected from users.

Important for all people in Germany: This is initially only a prototype that will be tested in the coming months in Denmark, Greece, Spain, France and Italy. There is currently no information on when the age verification system will also be available in Germany. This will probably be the case by the end of 2026 at the latest, as the so-called European Digital Identity Wallet (eID) is also to be implemented by then.

Does age verification on the internet make sense?

Reliable age verification plays an important role in the protection of children and young people. On the one hand, when it comes to preventing children from accessing absolutely inadmissible content such as pornography. However, age verification does not only mean exclusion from certain content. Age verification can also enable children to participate safely in the online world.

For example, through age-differentiated access to social media portals. Only if the service provider knows which account is being used by a child can age-differentiated protective measures be effective. For example, children's accounts can be set to private from the outset and particularly dangerous functions such as live streams can be deactivated. In this case, age verification does not exclude children from participating in the digital world, but on the contrary enables them to use digital services as safely and positively as possible.