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Press statements remarks by Henna VIRKKUNEN, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

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Good morning everybody, and thank you, President, for this introduction.

Protecting minors online is a top priority for both of us.

I would like to continue with the two specific points of the ongoing work we are doing to succeed in this very important task.

First, our crucial enforcement work under the Digital Services Act. Do you remember how this year started?

It started with a platform allowing users to digitally undress women and create child sexual abuse material.

Our response was immediate, and this is why Europe has the DSA to hold online platforms accountable.

Because Europe won't tolerate that platforms make money at the expense of our kids.

This year we also took unprecedented action against TikTok for its addictive design, the infinite scroll, autoplay,

constant notifications and very highly personalized algorithms,

all of this with one sole objective keeping our children glued to their screen.

The message is very clear in Europe, TikTok will have to change its fundamental design.

Because we refuse to compromise on our children's wellbeing.

And we are taking similar action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Shein.

This year, we also took action against 4 pornographic platforms.

All on the same grounds,

they simply don't have proper age verification tools in place to keep our children away from their adult content.

And this brings me to my second point,

as platforms don't have proper age verification tools in place, we came up with the solution ourselves.

As just mentioned by the President, our European Age verification app is technically ready as of today.

Let me briefly reemphasize the privacy aspects of our app. Our solution builds on zero knowledge proof.

This means that when users want to access an age restricted service, you remain in full control of your data.

This is extremely important because we don't want platforms to scan our passport or face.

The 7 front runner countries are showing how it can be done either as a free standing up or as a part of the national digital wallet.

But we need to make sure that all children in the EU are protected,

and this is why still in this month, I will set up an EU-wide coordination mechanism.

We need a structured approach for EU accreditation of national solutions and for Member States to ensure that aid credentials can be issued easily and across the whole EU.

And above all to ensure that we continue to build one solution for the EU, not 27 different ones. But we are also open to business.

Our blueprint is open source and any private company is free to use the blueprint to develop innovative solutions.

We only have two conditions respect the privacy standard and make sure we have the same technical solution everywhere in the EU.

The coordination mechanism will help to deliver this important digital public infrastructure in the EU.

And we will update you with more details very soon.

The internet must be a safe place for our kids, one where they can learn,

grow and connect, and we are very deeply committed to making it reality.

Thank you and you are all warmly invited to attend a technical briefing with our Director General,

Roberto Viola, at midday.

Wish you a very good day and thank you for your participation.

Media information
ID I-287688
Date 15/04/2026
Duration 04:13
Personalities Henna Virkkunen
Location Berlaymont VIP corner, Brussels
Institution European Commission
Views 774