Major social media platforms including X and Reddit have not yet submitted their plans to Ireland’s media regulator on how they will prevent children from accessing pornographic content, as a July deadline for implementing age verification measures approaches.
In comments to the Irish Examiner, online safety commissioner Niamh Hodnett revealed that several platforms under Coimisiún na Meán’s regulatory scope carry “different risks” and hinted that investigations into some tech giants with European headquarters in Ireland may soon be launched.
“There’s been extensive engagement with these platforms since [last year],” Hodnett stated. “If the supervisory team come to the view they’ve reached a dead end or the end of the road in relation to supervisory dialogue, and the behaviours haven’t changed, then the matter gets escalated to the enforcement team, who then open the matter for investigation.”
The second part of Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Code becomes effective in July, requiring platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X to implement specific measures against harmful content including cyberbullying, promotion of eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide. Additionally, they must introduce robust age verification systems to prevent users under 18 from viewing pornography or extreme violence.
While the regulator hasn’t specified exact verification methods, it has indicated that simple self-declaration of age would be insufficient. The commission’s executive chair Jeremy Godfrey previously suggested that requiring passport identification paired with selfie verification could represent a “gold standard” approach.
Platforms that breach the code face potential sanctions reaching into tens or hundreds of millions of euros. Three platforms—X, Reddit, and Tumblr—have initiated separate judicial reviews against the Online Safety Code, with X’s case scheduled for hearing in June, just before the code’s implementation deadline.
“In relation to the three platforms in question, no we haven’t had sight of what exactly their proposed plans are but nor do we have communication that they’re absolutely not going to do it,” Hodnett noted, adding that while there is no specific timeline for launching investigations, discussions with these platforms continue.
“We said what’s key for us is getting the behavioural change, rather than the big fines,” she emphasized. “But, of course, if we’re not seeing the behavioural change, we will have to resort to investigation and enforcement. Again, not prejudging anything.”