The user age-verification app developed by the European Union was hacked “in two minutes”—but, in the view of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, that may not have been a mistake so much as part of a broader strategy by European authorities to build a system of total control.
“Today, this app was hacked in just 2 minutes. But don’t rush to laugh at European bureaucrats,” Durov wrote.
He argues that the vulnerability was built in from the start because the system “trusts the user’s device—and that is an immediate defeat.” If one assumes that the European Union is “not run by clowns,” he goes on, then the logic may be different: first present the product as “privacy-respecting,” then allow it to be hacked, and afterward abandon confidentiality principles under the pretext of having to “fix” the system.
In that scenario, Durov says, the end result would be a “surveillance tool” for monitoring all users, packaged as a measure to ensure “privacy compliance.” “Stay alert,” he added.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the completion of the app’s development on April 15. According to her, a single age-verification solution for online platforms will soon be rolled out to users. It will allow people to verify their age when accessing services “just as shops ask people buying alcoholic drinks in a store to prove their age.”
Work on the tool is advancing against the backdrop of intensifying efforts to restrict teenagers’ access to social media. Australia was the first to introduce such measures; similar proposals are now being discussed in France, Spain, Britain, and a number of other countries.