An EU age-verification app for online platforms is ready and will soon be available, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement today. The app comes as several member states push ahead with plans to limit children’s access to social media.

Following Australia’s social media ban for children launched last year, a growing number of European states are weighing their own restrictions as concerns mount over social media’s impact on children’s health and safety.

“We are moving ahead with full speed and determination on the enforcement of our European rules. We are holding accountable those online platforms that do not protect our kids enough,” von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels.

The app, which will be compatible with both mobile devices and computers, will require users to upload their passport or ID card to confirm their age anonymously, she said.

“This app gives parents, teachers and caretakers a powerful tool to protect children, because we will have zero tolerance for companies that do not respect our children’s rights,” von der Leyen added.

Several European countries, including non-EU nations Britain and Norway, have enacted or are considering legislation setting minimum age limits – typically between ‌13 and ⁠16 years – for social media usage.

At the same press conference, the EU’s digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, said the bloc plans to set up a system to coordinate age verification across different countries. The Commission has been working on a unified digital verification system since last year.

While no EU-wide binding legislation has been adopted yet, the European Parliament approved a resolution report ⁠in November calling for a minimum age of 16 for social media access across all member states.

A final decision on potential EU legislation will be made once a special panel on child safety online files its recommendations this summer, the senior Commission official said.

More than 1,400 actors, directors, and filmmakers, including Hollywood stars such as Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller, and Kristen Stewart, have signed an open letter opposing the proposed merger of film studios Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The letter argues that the deal would harm an already battered US entertainment industry. The BBC understands that more entertainment industry professionals are still adding their names to the list.

“This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries – and the audiences we serve – can least afford it,” they said.

The merger, estimated at around USD 111 billion, would reduce the number of US film studios to four, effectively also reducing the number of people working for studios and narrowing the number of buyers and makers of film and TV, the letter argues.

“The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world,” the signatories say.

The letter concludes by calling on California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other regulators to block the deal. The deal still needs to be approved by shareholders later this month, as well as receiving approval from government regulators.

Watchmen and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, a signatory who has an overall deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, also voiced his opposition on social media.

“Hollywood mergers mean fewer movies and fewer TV shows, and that means fewer jobs,” he wrote. “When two storied backlots are owned by the same company, the outcome is intuitive – one becomes a ghost town. I’m scared. But I’m not a ghost. And a fight is already lost if it’s never fought.”

Paramount responded by pledging its commitment to talent and “ensuring creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer.”

The audio subscription is intended to attract new target groups to Politiken’s subscriber base, while the company expects almost no impact on its existing digital subscriptions. This was stated by the newspaper’s Commercial Director, Charlotte Hoffmeyer, to MediaWatch.

“We work in a highly user-oriented and segmented way in our approach to the market. If you want Politiken, you need a full subscription. But if you want podcasts and the larger documentary series, this is a good alternative for those who otherwise would not subscribe to Politiken,” she says.

Politiken’s audio subscription comes with both technical and content upgrades, including new podcasts such as the morning overview “While You Slept” and the culture format “The TV Club.” According to Charlotte Hoffmeyer, existing subscribers are therefore expected to perceive this as an increase in the value of their subscription.

The audio subscription is the result of long-term work at Politiken, both technically and in its strategic approach to reaching more digital subscribers:

“Over the past year, we have had a focused effort on more efficient sales targeting more relevant audiences to create higher lifetime value. If you bring in the right customers and approach them in a way that matches their expectations, they stay longer,” says Charlotte Hoffmeyer.

According to Hoffmeyer, data on current subscribers does not indicate that many users with full digital subscriptions will switch to the audio-only option.

Instead, Politiken believes it has identified a target group that is currently outside the paywall but interested in its content:

“We know that we have a larger target group that wants our journalism but does not want the full subscription,” she says.

The new audio subscription will cost DKK 99 per month. As a launch offer, it will be available for DKK 1 for the first month or DKK 99 for the first three months.

“At the core of Tubi is a deeply scaled personalization and discovery system, trained on more than 1 billion monthly hours of viewing from over 100 million active users. Recent AI breakthroughs are compounding that advantage, enhancing how Tubi interprets intent, reasons over content, and connects viewers to the right titles faster. This launch brings that system into a conversational interface, making it seamless to go from an idea to the perfect match and content rabbit hole”, Bidgoli said.

The development represents the first example of a streaming service embedding itself within an AI-driven conversational environment, shifting part of the user journey away from proprietary apps and into third-party platforms.

Tubi is part of Tubi Media Group, a division of Fox Corporation. The streaming service is available in the US, Canada, Mexico, LATAM, UK and Australia.

Debat: Social videos vækst ændrer spillepladen – Mediawatch

Medieutgifterna planar ut – fler väljer ljud och video framför text – Dagens Media

Sweden: Media spend stabilises – Advanced Television

US Platforms Command 75% of Europe’s Streaming Market – Señal News

Paramounts köp av Warner – så påverkas svenska konsumenter – Dagens Nyheter

Spotify har føjet en million abonnenter til det svenske lydbogsmarked – Mediawatch

Swedish Video Spending Hits Record High as Streaming Drives Market Reshaping – Señal News

Netflix–Warner Bros deal could cement Nordic streaming dominance – Broadband TV News

Spotifys nya drag: ”Tror på något annat” –SvD

Nya poddtrenden: Går över till video – ”Roligare” – Expressen

Traditional TV viewing in Sweden falls to less than a third of overall watch time – C21 Media