The fringe claim of a new EU mandate requiring a digital ID app tied to COVID-era systems for all website access overstates immediate legal requirements but accurately highlights a deeper trajectory toward eroding online anonymity. Real policy developments under eIDAS 2.0 require all EU Member States to offer EU Digital Identity Wallets (EUDI Wallets) by the end of 2026. These wallets enable users to prove identity attributes, store credentials, and access both public and private digital services across borders. While the European Commission and Reuters confirm the wallet is voluntary for citizens and not a blanket mandate for general internet browsing, the parallel rollout of an 'EU mini wallet' or Age Verification Blueprint changes the picture for platforms. This reusable app, piloted in multiple member states and designed to integrate with full EUDI Wallets, allows users to cryptographically prove they are over a certain age (e.g. 18) without sharing full personal data. It is explicitly promoted to help Very Large Online Platforms comply with the Digital Services Act's demands to curb harmful content, protect minors, and reduce illegal material. Official EU documentation frames this as privacy-preserving age verification for pornography, gambling, and similar sites. However, privacy organizations warn of mission creep. EDRi notes the Commission is advancing solutions that could force government-issued ID checks to access certain platforms, with the 'mini wallet' acting as a bridge that normalizes presenting digital credentials online. WIRED reports on pilots showing how this technology links age checks to broader identity infrastructure, potentially habituating users to verified access. Connections others miss include the technical lineage: many national digital ID systems built during COVID-19 vaccination certificate programs provided the backend infrastructure, data-sharing protocols, and public acceptance testing for today's wallets. What begins as 'voluntary' for age-restricted content or regulated services (banking, telecom, transport under upcoming acceptance mandates from 2027) risks becoming de facto compulsory as platforms adopt it for compliance and liability protection. This reflects technocratic governance patterns where 'safety' and 'protection' justifications expand identity control, mirroring global trends but centralized at EU scale. Critics argue selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs offer only partial anonymity, as the underlying wallet architecture links back to national registries, enabling correlation across services over time and curtailing the pseudonymous web that defined early internet culture.