Meta supports Greece's age verification system for kids' social media access

Back in May this year, Greece launched an app called Kids Wallet. Developed by the government, this app not only allows parents to monitor their kids’ online activity, but more importantly, it also works as an age verification system when it comes to teenagers’ access to digital platforms like social media.

The app works in the following way (source – DW):

At that time, Greece’s Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou made the following appeal to technology platforms:

Dear platforms, we ask for your cooperation so that together we can protect children at a vulnerable age

Now, it turns out, their appeal has borne fruit, as Meta – which owns Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp – has publicly supported their initiative, saying it should be implemented EU-wide.

Here’s what Claudia Tribilino (Meta’s public policy officer for Italy, Greece, and Malta) has said in this regard:

I am pleased that Greece is taking a leading role in the vital debate among EU Member States and in the process leading to the non-paper ‘Protecting Minors from Online Risks and Harm.’ We support the call for the European Commission to implement mandatory, embedded age verification measures across the EU and recommend that these be widely applied to all digital services used by teenagers to ensure a safer online environment

Meta’s support for Greece’s solution comes shortly after the app got support from Henna Virkkunen (European Commission Vice-President for Technology), who said they intend to launch a “mini-wallet” modeled after Greece’s “Kids Wallet”.

However, it’s worth mentioning here that this “mini-wallet” that Virkkunen is talking about would only be a temporary solution as a European digital wallet (European Digital Identity Wallet or EUDI Wallet) is already in the works and will get fully implemented by the end of 2026. And Google’s recent post indicates they are ready to provide the core technology for it.

Anyway, coming back, as I highlighted yesterday, Meta is also publicly supporting Digital Majority Age, a proposal put forward by some EU member states. It is also aimed at controlling children’s access to social media platforms.

It’s also worth noting that these support announcements by Meta are coming amid strong steps that several governments around the world are taking in order to protect their young citizens from the dark side of social media platforms.