Has Europe finally found the key to protecting its youngest citizens from the harmful effects of digital technology? On July 14, the European Commission unveiled a technical system for age verification and published its first guidelines for enforcing the child protection measures of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The next day, in France, the Conseil d'Etat (France's top administrative court) reinstated the requirement for age checks on pornographic websites, a measure that had been suspended a month earlier under pressure from the platforms. Both were strong signals – steps that could mark a promising turning point. Yet, there remains a long and obstacle-strewn path between these announcements and reality.

Since 2019, the need to bring order to the legal chaos of Europe's digital landscape has been on the table. Thierry Breton, then newly appointed as European commissioner for the internal market, put it simply and aptly: "What is illegal offline must also be illegal online." The DSA, passed at the end of 2022, is rooted in this principle: It imposes on major digital platforms a responsibility to identify their own risks, to correct them and to meet their protection obligations – or face enormous fines.

Unlike other pieces of legislation, the DSA does not mandate a specific method, but it does demand a result. The new guidelines published in July clarify what is expected: private accounts by default, loyalty mechanisms disabled, targeted advertising banned, reports from minors processed within 48 hours and algorithms adapted to prevent exposure to inappropriate content. However, all of this hinges on a single requirement: namely, reliably knowing the age of users.

That is why this age verification prototype is so important; it is meant to ensure accurate age assessment without collecting excessive personal data. On paper, the protective measures appear promising. In practice, however, the rollout of the DSA has revealed just how slowly the system is moving. Although it has been legally in force since February 2024, the DSA will not deliver its first independent audits of platform risk assessments until 2026. Meanwhile, the statistics speak for themselves: 90% of 12-year-olds own a smartphone, according to the Born Social 2024 study; by age 12, half of boys visit a pornographic website at least once a month, according to a 2023 study by ARCOM (France's audiovisual and digital communications regulator); one in five adolescents in Europe experiences mental health disorders, which are often worsened by social media, according to the World Health Organization.

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