Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth publishes its report on ‘Safeguarding children in the age of AI’

Launching the report, Deputy Claire Kerrane, Cathaoirleach of the Committee said “Some commentators have suggested that the current move by many administrations to address issues like phone use, AI and social media among young people is alarmist or reactionary. Having examined the issues, this Committee disagrees. Such technologies have profoundly changed the way we operate in the world, at such a new and large scale that we are truly living in a new paradigm.”

The Cathaoirleach said “Health and wellbeing experts have linked this to major mental health challenges among our young, with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) having recently called for urgent action to tackle harm faced by young people as a result of social media. It is essential that Ireland, being home to many of the main platforms’ headquarters, acts on these issues.”

Deputy Kerrane added “The Committee makes some robust recommendations in this report, not to be critical, but centered on a concern for young people’s safety online. It does so with respect to Coimisiún na Meán and acknowledges that this is new and complex territory, and there may be a desire to provide time and goodwill to platforms to act responsibly. For the Committee, that time has passed, because although we now have a new regulatory framework, platforms have continuously failed to sufficiently adhere to existing codes or agreements or to develop effective measures aimed at making the online world safer.”

Report on Safeguarding children in the age of AI (October 2024) (oireachtas.ie)

Some of the key recommendations included in the Report are:

·       Companies should have rigorous and effective age verification techniques in place. These should not impinge on privacy and security for users. Self-declaration, whereby the user inputs their age when setting up an account, should not be permitted as an appropriate age verification system.

·       Recommender systems should be off by default for young people under the age of 16. Coimisiún na Meán should establish this as a legal requirement that is binding for all platforms. If Coimisiún na Meán lacks the powers to do so, then this should be rectified as a matter of urgency.

·       Coimisiún na Meán, should publish specific deadlines, no later than year-end 2024, for when it requires companies to have in place and demonstrate effective measures for age verification and for recommender systems to be off by default for those under 16. 

Read more about the work carried out by The Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth