A European Citizens’ Initiative opposing mandatory digital identity and age checks online has opened for signatures as the EU plans to expand digital verification.
Called Stop Killing The Internet: No Digital ID & No Age Verification, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) seeks to protect the right to access the internet without being required to provide identification.
Organisers now have up to a year to collect at least one million signatures across the EU. If successful, it will have place at a public hearing in the European Parliament, while the European Commission will be required to formally respond the demands and explain whether it intends to take action.
From games to the whole internet
The campaign has its origins in Stop Killing Games. The ECI collected more than one million signatures calling for protections against video game publishers making games unplayable after ending official support. The European Commission ultimately declined to introduce the rules sought by the initiative. However, it agreed to discuss a code of conduct on the end of support for video games.
“If a town hall has problems, you address the problems inside it. You do not close the town hall or demand identity papers from everybody at the entrance.”
— Moritz Katzner, General Director for European Affairs and the United States Advisory at Stop Killing the Internet
Campaigners see a direct link between the two issues. “Stop Killing Games is fundamentally about digital ownership and whether people should be able to continue using something they have paid for when a company stops supporting it,” Moritz Katzner, General Director for European Affairs and the United States Advisory for Stop Killing Games and Stop Killing the Internet, previously told EU Perspectives.
“That concern goes far beyond games,” Katzner said. During the pandemic, online platforms became central to education, socialising, entertainment and political discussion, particularly for younger people.“The internet can be harmful. Nobody disputes that. But if a town hall has problems, you address the problems inside it. You do not close the town hall or demand identity papers from everybody at the entrance.”
You might be interested
Stop Killing the Internet says one of its main priorities is creating a wider public debate about how the internet should be governed without fragmenting it into national systems. The movement also argues that opposing age checks is not enough. They call on governments to pursue alternatives. This can be digital education, combating predatory behaviour, more platform accountability, transparent algorithms and restrictions on addictive design. In the longer term, campaigners want an international framework with responsibilities for governments and online platforms.
Brussels moves in a different direction
The campaign comes as the EU is expanding its digital verification infrastructure. Member states are expected to have European Digital Identity Wallets ready by the end of 2026. The Commission has also developed an age-verification solution designed to allow users to prove they meet an age threshold without revealing their identity to platforms. The European Parliament has called for a minimum age of 16 for independent access to social media, video-sharing platforms and AI companions. According to lawmakers, younger teenagers should need parental consent.
The campaign wants digital identity and age-verification systems to remain voluntary, privacy-preserving and non-discriminatory. Its demands include anonymous or pseudonymous proof of age, data minimisation, independent security audits and alternatives for people who do not use digital wallets.
“My concern is about the wider infrastructure and the precedent (digital identity and age-verification systems) create.”
— Moritz Katzner
Katzner said their concern goes beyond what information an individual platform receives. “The Commission presents the system as privacy-preserving, and I recognise that efforts are being made to limit the information disclosed to individual platforms,” he told EU Perspectives. “My concern is about the wider infrastructure and the precedent it creates.”
He also warned that verification requirements could have different consequences for smaller online companies. “Large companies can afford compliance departments and verification providers. Small forums, independent platforms, community servers and game studios may not be able to do so.”
The campaign now has one year to collect one million signatures and force the issue back onto the EU’s political agenda.
