The media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has published its online safety code, promising “an end to the era of social media self-regulation”.
The code is a legally binding set of rules regulating content on video-sharing platforms with their EU headquarters in Ireland.
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit will be obliged to comply with the new code – which aims to protect users from harmful content – or face fines of up to €20 million.
Niamh Hodnett, Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Commissioner, said that the adoption of the code will hold social media firms to account.
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Content constituting cyberbullying, promoting self-harm or suicide and promoting eating or feeding disorders, incitement to hatred or violence, terrorism, child sex abuse material, racism and xenophobia is prohibited under the code.
The code also compels platforms to enact age assurance controls to prevent children from encountering pornography or gratuitous violence.
Platforms must also offer users channels whereby they can report breaches of the code, and must subsequently act on those reports.
Disinformation – “information” that is intended to mislead – is not covered under the new code. The code will compel platforms to publish an “action plan” on measures aimed at improving media literacy among users, to help them identify disinformation.
General obligations of the code will come into effect from next month, but platforms will enjoy a grace period before some more detailed provisions are enforced.
Coimisiún na Meán will take a “supervisory approach” to enforcing the code, according to the regulator, “ensuring that platforms implement appropriate systems to comply with the provisions of the code”.
The online safety code was developed following the enactment of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022. The code gives effect to certain obligations to the State outlined in the European Commission’s Audiovisual Media Servcies Directive. The publication of the code follows a full public consultation period.
The code forms part of Coimisiún na Meán’s wider online safety framework, the sum of the commission’s powers of regulation over online platforms.
In a statement announcing the publication of the code, Ms Hodnett said that Coimisiún na Meán will be responsible for implementing the code.
“The code sets binding rules for video-sharing platforms to follow in order to reduce the harm they can cause to users,” she said.
Minister for Media Catherine Martin said in a statement that the adoption of the code is a “major step forward in online safety”.
“It introduces real accountability for online video sharing platforms and requires them to take action to protect those that use their platforms, including by having robust complaints handling procedures and introducing effective age-verification. It will make all of us, but particularly our children, safer online.”
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