From today, new online safety rules come into force in Ireland under the Online Safety Code. The media regulator Coimisiún na Meán formally adopted the Code in October 2024, however platforms were given a 9 month period before more detailed provisions of the code came into force.
As previously reported by Gript, the code obligates video-sharing platforms under the jurisdiction of the State “to protect people, especially children, from harmful video and associated content” or face fines of up to €20 million or 10% of the platform’s annual turnover, whichever is greater. The online safety code was developed in the wake of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (2022) being enacted, and was intended to give effect to obligations on the State set out in the European Commission’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).
Platforms will be required to use “age assurance” to prevent children from encountering pornography or gratuitous violence online, as well as having age verification measures in place as appropriate. Parental controls will also have to be provided for content that may “impair the physical, mental, or moral development of children under 16”.
“The Code applies to video-sharing platform services, many of which are household names and services we use every day. It requires these platforms to restrict certain categories of video and associated content, so that users cannot upload or share the most harmful types,” the code states.
“The restricted categories include cyberbullying, promotion of eating and feeding disorders, promotion of self-harm and suicide, dangerous challenges, and incitement to hatred or violence on a range of grounds including gender, political affiliation, disability, ethnic minority membership, religion and race. Restrictions also include criminal content such as child sex abuse material, terrorism, racism and xenophobia,” it states.
Despite calls to tackle recommender systems – algorithms that determine what social media users see on their feeds, based on data such as age, location, and search history – these are not covered in the legislation. Campaign groups, including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, previously expressed “dismay” that algorithms would not be covered, amid claims certain content appearing on users’ feeds promoted extremism, earring disorders and self-harm.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said in May 2024 that it was dismayed that “toxic” algorithms which push harmful content into the feeds of social media users would not be covered by the Online Safety Code.Coimisiún na Meán has said tsaid in response that such systems had the potential to be tackled through its implementation of the EU’s set of online safety rules, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The Online Safety Code is to operate alongside the DSA and form part of Ireland’s overall internet safety framework.
The legislation has not been exempt from controversy; in December 2024, (X, formerly Twitter) challenged the Online Safety Code in court in a lawsuit against Coimisiún na Meán, claiming that the code constituted regulatory overreach. X has asked the court to overturn the decision to apply the Online Safety Code to its platform.
The legal challenge, brought by Elon Musk’s social media platform, commenced in June, with Twitter International Unlimited Company, which operates X, alleging in the High Court proceedings that Coimisiún na Meán engaged in “regulatory overreach” in its approach to restrictions on certain video content. X has argued that the new online safety code contradicts Irish law requirements for protecting and balancing fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression. Coimisiún na Meán is contesting the case.
In a statement last year, the regulator for online safety said: “We will engage in this litigation process and will defend the online safety code and its objective of keeping people, especially children, safe online.”
Last week, a spokesperson for Coimisiún na Méan told the Irish Examiner that it had granted X more time to clarify child safety rules. In a statement, it said: “In June, [we] issued a statutory Information Notice to X Internet Unlimited Company, the provider of the platform X, with an obligation to respond by July 22, 2025.
“X have since requested an extension to this deadline and this request has been granted by An Coimisiún with a new deadline of August 8, 2025.”
In March, when asked about the “increasing incidence of harmful content online” by Deputy Gary Gannon, the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said: “Online safety is a whole of Government issue, with responsibility for relevant measures shared across a number of Departments and agencies.
“Coimisiún na Meán has been established further to the provisions of the OnlineSafety and Media Regulation Act 2022 and operates under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. The Act empowers an Online Safety Commissioner, as part of the wider Coimisiún na Meán, to hold designated online services to account through binding online safety codes. These codes set out obligations in relation to how these services tackle, at a systemic level, the availability of defined categories of harmful online content.
“Among other things, the code sets out obligations for video-sharing platforms to restrict certain categories of video and associated content such as: cyberbullying, promotion of eating disorders, self-harm and suicide, and incitement to hatred or violence on a range of grounds including gender, political affiliation, disability, ethnic minority membership, religion and race. It also sets out obligations relating to the operation of age assurance systems to protect children from pornography and extreme or gratuitous violence.”
Last month, during a visit to Dublin, officials from the US State Department expressed concern about the EU’s introduction of the Digital Services Act is understood to be a source of particular concern amid fears from US tech giants based in Ireland that they will be subjected to limitations on freedom of expression under the EU’s new framework.
As previously reported by Gript’s Fatima Gunning, in response to a query Gript in June, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications confirmed that it had not conducted any analysis or research into the potential free speech impact of misinformation and disinformation regulations such as The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 created by Coimisiún na Meán.
It stated, “The Department has not undertaken any analysis or research on the potential impact of mis/disinformation laws on free speech.”