EU Announces an End to Online Anonymity with Introduction of Mandatory Digital ID

Belgium is joining the EU’s push to kill anonymity on the internet, rolling out mandatory electronic IDs (eIDs) to lock down virtual communication networks access for its citizens.

For years—since 2003—Belgium has offered eIDs as an optional tool, one way to meet the national ID requirement for everyone over 12. But the game’s changing. Upgraded with fingerprints since 2020, these cards are already a must for accessing government services online. Now, they’re set to become the gatekeeper for citizens’ tweets, posts, and likes.

It was announced in the beginning of March that citizens will soon be able to request digital versions of their ID cards that they can use on smartphones by November 26. The new form of the ID will be accepted not only for identification purposes but also for online authentication, electronic signatures, and for travel between countries within the Schengen Zone.

Minister of the Interior Bernard Quintin stressed that the use of the digital ID will remain optional and that existing eID cards will still be valid.

In the end of March, however, it was reported by the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws that the country’s new minister of public modernization, civil service, public enterprises, digitization, and buildings administration, Vanessa Matz, is considering making digital ID mandatory for using virtual communication networks. The newspaper said that this suggestion appears in a policy note issued by Matz.

Caroline Gennez, who is the current Flemish minister of welfare, praised the idea. “It is becoming increasingly clear that virtual communication networks have a bad impact on the well-being of our children and young people,” she said, as reported by Het Laatste Nieuws. “There they are confronted with completely unrealistic ideals about beauty, images of brutal violence and sexual abuse, fake news, and hate speech.”

“We need to intervene,” Gennez added. “In real life, we find it perfectly normal to set boundaries and introduce age restrictions to protect our children and young people. Why should it be different in the digital world?”

The minister did not address the obvious privacy issues that would arise from such legislation, despite the fact that a mandatory ID check would render online anonymity impossible for citizens of all ages.

Other European countries are considering making a digital ID mandatory for virtual communication networks use as well. Recently, France’s Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin said that he will be looking into such a scheme for French Internet users in the coming weeks.

yogaesoteric
April 1, 2025