An EU Commission study finds that age verification remains affordable for most online services.

An independent study commissioned by the European Commission examines the impact of age verification on fundamental rights and its costs for businesses, finding that one in three children aged nine to eleven in six European countries already has a social media profile.

The European Commission commissioned an outside study to examine how age verification affects fundamental rights such as data protection, non-discrimination and freedom of expression, and what it would cost businesses, including micro and small firms. The findings are meant to feed into technical guidance for the planned EU Kids Act. The study does not assess how any single provider complies, but instead offers a general basis for future rules.

The study points to the European age verification blueprint as one of the cheapest options for providers of any size, since it is privacy friendly, openly designed and already publicly funded. Costs for businesses are expected to stay moderate and to fall further as competition among vendors grows, technical standards emerge and systems become easier to connect. For small and medium firms, the authors expect no excessive burden, partly because one common EU rulebook replaces a patchwork of national requirements.

What remains open is how quickly member states will actually roll out the blueprint and whether fallback options such as manual enrollment at local level will be available everywhere. The study warns that these gaps will decide whether age verification works in practice for smaller providers, not just on paper. Businesses should keep watching how the planned EU Kids Act and its technical guidance develop before building their own systems.

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