In its latest version of the guidelines for the protection of minors online, sent by the European Commission to the national coordinators of the Digital Services Act at the end of June and obtained by Agence Europe, the institution is quite clearly in favour of the introduction of a digital majority by those member countries that wish to do so, such as France and Greece (see EUROPE 13666/24).
The Commission wants to put pressure on online platforms to test and implement different age verification techniques themselves, depending on their degree of reliability: verification by evidence, estimation based on user data and self-declaration, which is already in place on some sites.
If platforms do decide to implement measures to restrict access by minors, these must be “proportionate” to the risk incurred, depending on the type of content in question, and must be subject to public assessment, the Commission recommends in its guidelines.
An age restriction would become mandatory for “all content and goods subject to restrictions under EU or national law, such as pornography, the sale of alcohol and gambling platforms”. In other words, minors should no longer be allowed access to these platforms.
Platforms in general are also invited to adapt their interfaces for minors and younger people, if they are part of the audience targeted by the content on offer, or at least part of it.
This is a reference to the ‘dark patterns’ and other ‘addictive designs’ singled out (see EUROPE 13645/12), which should be the subject of particular attention in the future Digital Fairness Act.
Commercial practices, security and confidentiality settings and online moderation are also mentioned in the document as features to be adapted to the age of the user.
See the guidelines: https://aeur.eu/f/ho5 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)