The Polish government has approved legislation that would require providers of online pornography to implement robust age-verification systems, part of a set of child online safety measures advanced by the cabinet. The bills still require approval by parliament and the president before they become law.
The age-verification measure targets the gap between self-declaration and verification. Under the proposal, sites hosting pornographic content would have to deploy systems that genuinely establish a user is an adult, rather than relying on a checkbox or a stated date of birth. The legislation does not mandate a specific verification method but requires that the systems be effective while respecting user privacy, leaving room for approaches such as verification through banks, mobile operators, credit cards, or digital identity wallets that confirm age without exposing unnecessary personal data.
The measure sits within a broader package. The cabinet also approved a ban on mobile phones and smartwatches in primary schools throughout the school day, set to take effect in September, and a measure to accelerate the blocking of illegal online content in alignment with the European Union’s Digital Services Act. Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said current regulations fail to match reality, citing research on the age at which children first encounter pornography, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk framed the package around protecting children from addiction and harmful content.
Non-compliance with the age-verification requirement would carry financial penalties ranging from 10,000 to 1 million zloty, with the possibility of website blocking for providers that do not comply. The enforcement mechanism mirrors the approach taken in other European jurisdictions, where the threat of access-blocking is the lever used against sites based outside the country.
The legislation faces a political hurdle before it takes effect. Both chambers of parliament must approve the measures, and the president must sign them, and President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a similar content-blocking bill earlier in 2026, which leaves the path to enactment uncertain even with cabinet approval secured.
Poland’s move adds another European jurisdiction to a widening age-assurance policy wave. A French court has required internet providers to block adult sites that fail to verify users’ ages, and the European Commission has sought a privacy-preserving age verification solution built around minimal data disclosure under the Digital Services Act.
Sources: Notes from Poland
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
