Europe doesn’t want to hear any more excuses from tech platforms for why they can’t verify users’ ages. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday announced a new European age verification app that will give users a sort of digital ID card to prove their ages online — without sharing their sensitive personal information with every site or app they want to access.
The move comes as tech platforms face growing global pressure to better protect young people online. But some tech leaders have raised practical and privacy concerns around collecting users’ sensitive information to verify their ages.
Read more…
Source: CNN News
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