Article 6a of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive says the most harmful content — g …

Article 6a of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive says the most harmful content — gratuitous violence, pornography — must be subject to the strictest measures, providing a high degree of control.

It doesn't say what those measures are.

The Commission's own application report from January 2024 fills the gap with examples, and puts two of them in the same bracket: "such as age verification or pin codes."

One of those is a cryptographic proof. The other is four digits — the same mechanism a cash machine used in 1970, unchanged in method, still accepted as the strictest thing we have.

Meanwhile the Kids Act, presented last week, requires certified age assurance with zero-knowledge proofs for platforms, and explicitly rules out self-declaration. Fines up to 6% of global turnover.

Both regimes exist in the same living room, protecting the same child.

One is being rebuilt with cryptography that reveals nothing.

The other is a number the child watched you type.

European Commission, SWD(2024) 4 final, section 2.3. Directive (EU) 2018/1808, Article 6a(1).