Can age-check tools protect children online without harming their fundamental rights?
As discussions intensify across the EU, this debate explores how different approaches such as age verification (confirming identity via official documents), age assurance (use of third-party services or algorithms to estimate age), and age estimation (assumptions of age based on user behaviour or biometrics) can help prevent minors from accessing harmful content, while ensuring compliance with data protection and fundamental rights standards.
Parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee (LIBE) holds a hearing that brings together policymakers, experts and stakeholders from EU and national institutions to assess the effectiveness, risks and societal implications of age-checking technologies, including their impact on privacy, security and digital rights.