§6.1.1 Introduction and terminology

24. In recent years, technology has seen fast developments allowing providers of online platforms to assure themselves in more and less accurate, reliable and robust ways of the age of their users. These measures are commonly referred to as ‘age assurance’ (32). 25. The Commission considers measures restricting access based on age to be an effective means to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors on online platforms. For this purpose, age assurance tools can help providers to enforce access restrictions for users below a certain age, in order to protect minors from accessing age-inappropriate content online, such as gambling or pornography, or from being exposed to other risks such as grooming. 26. Age assurance tools can also help providers to prevent adults accessing certain platforms that are designed for minors, except for when doing so for legitimate parental, educational, or supervisory purposes, thus reducing the risk of adults posing as minors and/or seeking to harm minors. 27. Finally, age assurance tools can be used to underpin the age-appropriate design of the service itself, thereby fostering safer and more child-suitable online spaces. In these instances, the tools can be used to ensure that children only have access to certain content, features or activities that are appropriate for their consumption, taking into account their age and evolving capacities. 28. It is important to distinguish between, on the one hand, the age restriction that limits access to the platform or to parts thereof to users below or above a certain age, and, on the other hand, the age assurance methods that are used to determine a user’s age. 29. The most common age assurance measures currently available and applied by online platforms fall into three broad categories: self-declaration, age estimation, and age verification. (a) Self-declaration consists of methods that rely on the individual to supply their age or confirm their age range, either by voluntarily providing their date of birth or age, or by declaring themselves to be above a certain age, typically by clicking on a button online. (b) Age estimation consists of methods which allow a provider to establish that a user is likely to be of a certain age, to fall within a certain age range, or to be over or under a certain age (33). (c) Age verification is a system that relies on physical identifiers or verified sources of identification that provide a high degree of certainty in determining the age of a user. 30. The main difference between age estimation and age verification measures is the level of accuracy. Whereas age verification provides certainty about the age of the user, age estimation provides an approximation of the user’s age. The accuracy of age estimation technologies may vary and improve as technology progresses.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07