In recent months, there has been a lot of discussion about the future European app for online age verification and the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet), two tools set to change the way users access digital services subject to age restrictions.

Although many people associate this topic exclusively with social networks or adult websites, its impact will actually be much broader and will affect any platform that needs to verify the age of its users in compliance with European regulations.

That is why we started preparing well in advance.

What Is European Age Verification?

The European Commission is developing a common solution that will allow users to prove their age online without necessarily sharing unnecessary personal data.

The goal is simple:

  • Protect minors from access to unsuitable content
  • Safeguard user privacy
  • Prevent the uncontrolled sharing of identity documents
  • Provide a common standard valid across the European Union

According to the approach proposed by the European Commission, an online service should be able to know that a user is, for example, an adult, without knowing their full date of birth or other personal data.

Learn more:

The European solution is also designed to integrate with the future European Digital Identity Wallet, which every Member State will be required to make available to its citizens.

This Is Not Only a European Issue

Europe is not the only region addressing the issue of online age verification.

In recent years, several countries have introduced or are introducing dedicated regulations and systems:

  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
  • France
  • Poland
  • Several U.S. states

In some cases, regulations mainly concern adult websites, while in others they also extend to social networks and other digital platforms.

This has now become a global issue, and all signs suggest that age verification will gradually become an international standard for many categories of online services.

How SimosNap Is Preparing

We began working on this topic some time ago.

Our goal is very clear:

To comply with future regulations without turning IRC into an invasive or complicated system to use.

IRC was created as an open and lightweight protocol, and we want to preserve its nature as much as possible.

For this reason, we have designed a system that clearly separates:

  • User identity
  • Age verification
  • Authorization to access specific areas of the network

In practice, a user will be able to prove that they meet certain age requirements without that information necessarily being publicly exposed within the IRC network.

This approach will allow us to manage the following in a flexible way:

  • Channels open to everyone
  • Channels restricted to users aged 14+
  • Channels restricted to users aged 18+
  • Any future categories that may be required by regulation

Privacy First

One of the aspects we consider most important is data minimization.

The goal is not to know who you are or to collect copies of your documents.

The goal is to be able to verify, when necessary, that you meet a specific age requirement.

The same philosophy underpins the European project, which aims to enable users to prove specific attributes without disclosing additional unnecessary information.

In other words, a service should be able to know that you are an adult without necessarily knowing your full date of birth, address, or other personal data.

Integration with OAuth and OpenID Connect

In recent months, we introduced OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect support to allow external websites and applications to use the SimosNap identity.

This work also provides an important foundation for the future management of age verification.

When the European mechanisms are fully available, the goal will be to allow services using SimosNap authentication to securely receive information related to the user’s age verification status as well.

In practice:

  • The user will complete verification only once
  • SimosNap will store only the verification status
  • Authorized applications will be able to know whether the user meets specific age requirements
  • Data will be shared only when necessary and according to the required authorizations

This approach will allow websites using SimosNap login to comply more easily with future regulations without having to implement complex verification systems on their own.

An Ecosystem That Goes Beyond IRC

Although SimosNap was created as an IRC Network, our ecosystem now includes numerous services and applications that already use OAuth and OpenID Connect.

Preparing the infrastructure for age verification today means laying the groundwork for a system that can be reused by:

  • Online communities
  • Forums
  • Web applications
  • Webchats
  • Third-party services that use SimosNap login

The goal is to prevent every individual project from having to reinvent an age verification system from scratch when stricter regulatory requirements arrive.

Looking Ahead

The final specifications of the EUDI Wallet ecosystem are still evolving, and some details may change in the coming months.

For this reason, we have chosen to design a modular and flexible infrastructure capable of adapting to future European standards without requiring radical changes to existing services.

We would rather prepare today than chase regulations tomorrow.

As always, we will continue to follow the evolution of the European project and publish updates as new official information becomes available.

Official Resources

European digital identity represents one of the most important changes that will affect the Internet in the coming years. SimosNap is already working to ensure an integration that respects privacy, security, and ease of use, while preserving the open philosophy that has defined our network for more than twenty years.