Telegram CEO Pavel Durov warned Friday that the European Union’s new age-verification app might turn out to be a stepping stone towards broader on-line identification monitoring, days after the European Fee mentioned the system was technically prepared for rollout.
In a Telegram put up on Friday, Durov cited evaluation from safety advisor Paul Moore, who mentioned the app is hackable in “underneath two minutes” after inspecting its technical design.
“This product would be the catalyst for an infinite breach in some unspecified time in the future,” Moore mentioned in an X put up on Thursday, including that the system might be tricked so the age verify isn’t correctly tied to the precise person or their system.
Durov argued that the safety considerations went past age checks and will, over time, be used to justify broader identification verification throughout on-line providers in Europe.
The criticism displays a wider debate over how age verification is being constructed into on-line platforms, as regulators in a number of areas push related programs, elevating considerations over safety and digital identification infrastructure.
System promoted as being “fully nameless”
The European Fee launched the primary model of its age-verification blueprint in July 2025, with the goal of letting customers show they’re over 18 with out disclosing different private info.
The age verification framework was developed as an open-source challenge designed to protect privateness and assist future interoperability with European Digital Id Wallets.
In an announcement on Tuesday, EC President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the EU’s age verification app is “technically prepared,” describing the instrument as “fully nameless” and claiming customers can show their age with out revealing private knowledge or being tracked.
Nevertheless, after researchers mentioned the system might be bypassed in minutes, it’s unclear whether or not its privateness and safety guarantees will maintain up in actual use.
Associated: Sign push notifications might current privateness vulnerability, says Durov
In keeping with Durov, the app is “hackable by design,” suggesting it was inbuilt a method that makes it straightforward to interrupt in follow, which he argues might later be used to justify stronger identification checks.
“The EU bureaucrats wanted an excuse to silently begin turning their ‘privacy-respecting’ age verification app right into a surveillance mechanism over all Europeans utilizing social media,” the Telegram CEO mentioned.
Durov has emerged as a significant advocate of free speech and digital privateness. He stays underneath judicial investigation in France over allegations tied to criminal activity facilitated by Telegram, together with organized crime, fraud and the platform’s alleged failure to cooperate with authorities.
Journal: How crypto legal guidelines modified in 2025 — and the way they’ll change in 2026