The German government is pursuing mandatory age verification for online users, aiming to establish a European standard for digital safety. A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry for Digital and Modernization indicated the government believes age verification on digital devices “should be standard in Europe.
Currently, EU law does not permit mandatory age verification systems like those recently implemented in the UK’s Online Safety Act. However, the German government, referencing commitments made in its coalition agreement, is actively lobbying the European Commission and European partners to change this. The focus is on achieving a practical and user-friendly implementation.
The proposal is already drawing criticism from across the political spectrum. Members of the Left Party (Die Linke) are voicing concerns that mandatory age verification, replicating the British model, could be ineffective while simultaneously posing significant data privacy risks. Donata Vogtschmidt, the party’s spokesperson for Digital Policy and Cybersecurity, highlighted the ease with which such systems can be circumvented using VPNs, potentially creating a false sense of security and leading to the extensive collection of sensitive personal data.
Anne-Mieke Bremer, the Left Party spokesperson for Games and Digital Infrastructure, argued that effective digital youth protection requires a different emphasis-specifically, increased media literacy, consistent content moderation and clear platform accountability. She believes that collecting unreliable data is ultimately ineffective and that platform architecture, functional reporting mechanisms and swift removal of problematic content are vital.
Concerns are also being raised by the CDU/CSU opposition bloc. Ralph Brinkhaus, spokesperson for Digitalization and Modernization, stated that while effective child and youth protection online is essential, requiring mandatory identification to every service provider carries considerable risks to data protection and IT security. He cautioned that even with high security standards, central data repositories remain vulnerable to cyberattacks and internal misuse.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, enacted in July, requires platforms featuring potentially harmful content to mandate age verification through methods like ID checks or credit card information.
