A special EU panel advising European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on child online safety has held its second meeting, with discussions ranging from existing EU rules to approaches such as Australia’s minimum age for social media.
The full-day meeting brought together youth representatives, legal specialists, computer scientists, medical professionals and child rights advocates, the European Commission informed on Thursday night.
It said talks covered possible new and improved approaches at EU level as well as non-legislative initiatives intended to make children safer online.
The meeting followed the Commission’s presentation a day earlier of a final EU age verification app, which it described as a privacy-focused tool designed to help confirm a user’s age online.
Von der Leyen urged EU countries to start customising the app so it can be used by citizens soon.
How the age verification app works
The app is designed to verify a user’s age without sharing personal information, using a method known as “zero-knowledge proof”, the Commission said.
It added that the software is open source, meaning its code is publicly available to inspect and reuse, including by partner countries.
Online platforms in the EU have legal duties to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors under the Digital Services Act — a bloc-wide law covering how digital services manage risks and illegal content.
A blueprint of the app was first presented in July 2025 and then provided to EU countries for testing and development in national settings, with seven “frontrunner” member states already piloting work: France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Ireland, the Commission said.
It added that those countries plan to integrate the tool into their national electronic identity wallets.
The panel is co-chaired by Maria Melchior, research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), and Professor Dr Jörg M. Fegert, director of the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at Ulm University Medical Centre.
The group does not have permanent membership and invited specialists may change between meetings.
A third panel meeting will be held in the coming months, and the co-chairs are due to report findings and recommendations to von der Leyen by summer 2026.
