Slovakia proposes age checks for social platforms using biometric tools

It is Slovakia’s turn to introduce legislation restricting large social media platforms to users 16 and older. This week, its government approved a bill, submitted by the Education Ministry, to bring age requirements into effect, citing concerns about addiction, extremism and radicalization. It includes a requirement that platforms “operate reasonable technical and organizational measures” to assess the age of those requesting access, which indicates a need for biometric age assurance tools. Self-declaration will no longer count. The proposed law leans toward the French double-blind model, in that acceptable solutions must be privacy-preserving, revealing no personal information, and “the entity conducting the age check would also not be allowed to know which social media platform had requested the verification.” Declared age range model an option, but not everyone loves it Commentary in EU Today evaluates various options for the Slovakian market, and the privacy and security trade-offs each comes with. “Document checks can disclose identity when a platform needs to know only whether somebody is above a threshold. Facial age estimation may reduce the amount of formal identity data collected, but introduces questions about accuracy, bias and biometric processing. Third-party tokens can preserve privacy if well designed, although users must trust another intermediary with the verification.” The piece argues that “the safest model is likely to confirm an age band without passing a name, birth date or document image to the social network.” This is the declared age range model that Apple and Google have adopted in their app stores, and the preferred liability model for social platforms and other adult sites. However, it is not popular with many other developers who found themselves ensnared in the regulatory mess Meta and Pornhub have made. A statement that the Developers Association emailed to Biometric Update following Meta’s settlement in U.S. courts this week argues that age band models target the wrong entities, and that platforms and services that expose minors to harmful or age-inappropriate experiences should bear the brunt of the responsibility. Safety regulation intended to catalyze societal shift Opinions aside, a functioning age assurance ecosystem is achievable at a national level for Slovakia, provided it aligns its approach with the rest of the EU as its digital identity policy and architecture develops: “national measures can add protections, but they cannot disregard the Union’s allocation of regulatory powers or the country-of-origin principles governing many digital services.” EU Today identifies enforcement as a challenge, especially when noncompliant companies are based abroad, and acknowledges that some kids will find ways to circumvent age checks. Nonetheless, “that does not make the law pointless. Safety regulation is rarely judged by whether it prevents every violation. The relevant test is whether it materially changes routine access and whether the burden imposed on lawful users is proportionate.” In Slovakia, among local biometrics companies, Bratislava-based Innovatrics is globally recognized as a leader with two decades of experience in the identity sector; the company joins Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence for a webinar on the changing landscape of age assurance, taking place on Sep 15, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET. Legislation must be precise to avoid French fate The EU’s legislative momentum on online safety laws and age checks tech has run into an obstacle in France, where the Constitutional Council found that the law violated certain rights, and that “the legislation’s restrictions and safeguards did not sit securely within the applicable constitutional framework.” While the EU Today piece notes that Slovakian law is not governed by French decisions, it also says it shows how “a politically popular age limit can fail if the legal design is imprecise, delegates too much power or interferes disproportionately with access to information and expression.” Slovakia’s bill still needs approval from parliament, but could come into effect as soon as next year.