Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
64. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her plans to ensure children are protected from exposure to harmful content on social media. [53402/23]
View answerWhat plans does the Minister have to ensure children are protected from exposure to harmful content on social media?
The issue of children accessing online material that is not appropriate for them is a serious matter and something that I am very alive to, not just as a Minister but as a parent myself. This is why the Government legislated for a new regulatory framework for online safety through the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, which I commenced in March of this year. Under this Act, a new regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, was established, including an online safety commissioner. An coimisiún will protect children from harmful online content and age-inappropriate online content, including cyberbullying material, content promoting suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, and pornographic material, through the development of binding online safety codes and online safety guidance materials. An coimisiún, which is independent in the performance of its functions, expects to adopt its first online safety code in the first quarter of 2024 and will be consulting on a draft of this code in the coming weeks.
The EU Digital Services Act, DSA, came into force last August and since then has applied to very large online platforms and very large online search engines. It is enforced by the European Commission. From February 2024, it will apply to all platforms. The Government has decided to designate Coimisiún na Meán as Ireland's digital services co-ordinator under the DSA to monitor and enforce it in Ireland. The DSA introduces a range of obligations, including requirements for most online services to complete risk assessments on the risk of exposure of all their users to illegal online content and the exposure of children and young people to age-inappropriate content. These services must then address this risk of this exposure through a range of mitigation measures, including age-verification or age-assurance.
More broadly at European level, in May 2022 the European Commission launched a new European strategy for a better Internet for kids. This strategy places a strong focus on providing age-appropriate online experiences. In order to facilitate age verification, the European Commission has committed to working with member states and to promote EU standardisation in order to strengthen effective age-verification methods. In particular, the Commission has committed to facilitating a comprehensive code of conduct on age-appropriate design by 2024 and indicated that the code could provide for age verification for accessing certain online content. This suite of regulation and initiatives will go a long way to reducing the exposure of children to harmful online content and, when fully implemented over the coming period, will serve to keep them safer online.
I thank the Minister and I welcome her commitment, with the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán in 2023, the appointment of Ireland's first online safety commissioner in March 2023 and, as the Minister said, enforcement of the EU's Digital Services Act. Internet safety legislation to require social media companies to keep children safe online passed into law in the UK last month. In theory this would make the UK the safest place to be online in the world. Here, however, while we have done a lot children are still experiencing harm online. We need urgency to address this. The research company CyberSafeKids states there is simply not enough Government funding allocated to address how we can support children and young people to be safe and smart online. The research shows that 31% of primary school children can go online whenever they want and 25% have experienced online bullying in the past year. These numbers rise to 73% and 40% respectively in secondary schools. There is a large increase. I ask the Minister to look at this.
I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor. Our law was passed this time last year. Coimisiún na Meán was established under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act. This legislation was welcomed by a range of organisations, including the ISPCC and the Children's Rights Alliance, which see it as the possible window to a safer online world for children and young people in this country. It will take time to resource Coimisiún na Meán and appoint the online safety commissioner and the other safety commissioners. The digital service co-ordinator for the DSA is also placed in Coimisiún na Meán.
I see hope now. We have all of this in place. The era of self-regulation is coming to an end, thankfully, and I say this as a parent like Deputy Murnane O'Connor. Coimisiún na Meán will have a range of enforcement powers, including powers of audit to require the provision of information and periodic reporting requirements. If a service is suspected to be non-compliant with the online safety codes, an coimisiún can appoint authorised officers to investigate this. On receipt of a report from an authorised officer an coimisiún may, if a service is non-compliant, decide on a financial sanction of up to €20 million or 10% of turnover. There are real enforcement powers. There are real teeth with this. We are coming to the end of self-regulation.
I thank the Minister. I welcome what the Minister has done. As the Minister said, as a parent I am very mindful of social media. Everything is on social media now. It is important that we monitor it and that no child ever feels we cannot regulate. We need to make sure every child is protected at all times. I thank the Minister for her commitment.
I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor. As I said, it is working on the draft codes, which will go to consultation with stakeholders shortly. We intend the first code to be adopted in the first quarter of next year. All of our debates on this legislation were child focused. The real focus was on protecting our children first. The codes will include requirements to adopt measures in respect of age verification, content rating and parental controls. We really are making sure the online world becomes safer for our children.
