Ireland is testing out a digital wallet that conducts age verification for social media users

Before it’s publicly available later this year, the Irish government is trialing its Government Digital Wallet, which includes a way to verify a user’s age to access social media platforms. In its press release, the government’s Department of Public Expediture, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation said people can store digital versions of their birth certificates, driving licenses, European health cards and more.

Frank Feighan, the department’s minister, said that this testing phase would help inform the development of the digital wallet and ensure it was user friendly. The government hasn’t laid out when the Government Digital Wallet graduates beyond the testing phase, but Ireland is required to create a digital wallet by the end of 2026 as part of a European Union regulation.

“It will be able to facilitate secure age verification capability as set out in Digital Ireland and the implementation of the Online Safety Code, under which designated platforms must have age verification measures in place to help protect, in particular, children and young people from online harm,” Feighan said of Ireland’s digital wallet.

The pilot phase will be done on an opt-in basis and the government has a short survey available for comments and concerns. Along with Ireland, many other European Union member states are working on their own age verification methods. Earlier this year, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced a law to ban social media for anyone under 16.