Cork TD wants to end social media advertising and sale of illegal tobacco product

A Cork TD has called for the Revenue Commissioners to work closely with social media companies and Coimisiún na Meán to prevent the advertising and sale of illicit tobacco products online.

Noel McCarthy, Fine Gael TD for Cork East, accused illegal tobacco vendors of using social media platforms to bypass advertising laws for the illegal sale of their products.

“We need to see significant engagement from social media companies for better regulation and greater enforcement of these advertising laws,” the first-time TD said.

“Tobacco sellers that are willing to bypass rules on advertising tobacco products, may also be willing to bypass age restrictions for the sale of their products.This is really concerning and needs to be addressed.”

Mr McCarthy said Ireland had always been to the forefront in the control of tobacco products, and it needed to continue to do so by engaging with social media companies to prevent the advertising of illegal tobacco products.

“Combatting the effects of marketing tobacco to young people is essential to decrease the numbers of new smokers each year.

“The sale of these illegal products undermines our public health rules and can put people’s lives at risk,” Mr McCarthy said.

Responding in the Dáil to a parliamentary question from Mr McCarthy, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said that the Revenue Commissioners had not engaged directly with online media platforms in relation to tobacco products being offered for sale online, as it was the role of Coimisiún na Meán to assess if providers of an online platform were meeting their obligations under the Digital Services Act in relation to illegal content.

“Under the Digital Services Act, online platforms are obliged to remove illegal content once it has been reported to them,” Mr Donohoe said.

The minister said Coimisiún na Meán could not compel the immediate removal of illegal content, and online content that was believed to be illegal should in the first instance be reported to the social media platform.

“If the platform does not act on the illegal content, this can then be reported to Coimisiún na Meán,” Mr Donohoe said.

Mr McCarthy said having more engagement between Revenue, social media companies and Coimisiún na Meán would be an important step towards reducing tobacco consumption in Ireland and supporting public health.

“It’s shocking to see the illegal advertising and sale of tobacco is being allowed on social media platforms, we need to see Revenue, Coimisiúin na Meán, and all social media platforms work together to ensure this kind of content is immediately removed,” he said.