EU age verification apps to protect children may only allow Google-licensed Android OS and apps
The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) requires social networks, content distribution sites, and other platforms to protect minors. The EU is developing an age verification app to protect minors, but the app's planned integrity check function will only recognize 'Android OS licensed by Google' and 'Android apps downloaded from Google Play,' sparking outrage among internet users.
EU age verification app to ban any Android system not licensed by Google : degoogle
EU Age Verification App to Ban Android Apps Not Licensed by Google
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2025/07/eu-age-verification-app-to-ban-android-apps-not-licensed-by-google.html
The EU's Digital Services Act requires users accessing social media and other adult content to prove they are over 18 through an age verification app. The age verification app under development by the EU has beenreleased as open source on GitHub, and details of features that will be added in future versions have been provided.
The problem here is that it states that future versions of the age verification app will include 'app and device verification based on the Google Play Integrity API .'
The Google Play Integrity API verifies whether user actions and server requests are 'legitimate,' meaning that the app is running a genuine Android OS licensed by Google, is downloaded from Google Play, and passes device security checks.
This means that users will not be able to use their own custom Android OS and will be forced to use only apps downloaded from Google Play. Many internet users have raised concerns about this, and there has been growing opposition on Reddit, the overseas message board, and Hacker News, the social news site.
The age verification app's GitHub repository has also received a large number of comments opposing the addition of the Google Play Integrity API.
Do not add Google Play Integrity integration · Issue #10 · eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-app-android-wallet-ui
'We strongly urge you to abandon this plan. Relying on US tech giants for age verification will only deepen the EU's dependency on the US and its control over the internet. I don't think I need to explain how undesirable and dangerous this is, especially in the current political climate,' one user said .
Hacker News also points out that 'while there is value in verifying the security of the device, these checks don't work on the secondary Android OS, and they also tightly tie apps to many Google properties and services.'
Others have said that the EU's age verification app would be a burden to all users and would be largely pointless, since even under-18s could easily get around the blocks if they were tech-savvy.
Governments have previously attempted to ban unlicensed Android devices.
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in Software, Web Service, Smartphone, Security, Posted by log1h_ik