Minister criticises EU for failing to act on child safety online

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

The media minister has said he is “annoyed” that the EU cannot agree on how to take action on children accessing inappropriate material online.

Patrick O’Donovan said allowing young children on social media is the public health issue of our generation, and that governments have a duty of care to protect children.

He compared allowing children “uncontrolled” access to the internet to giving them a gin and tonic at a bar or handing them a box of cigarettes and matches.

The Government is planning the rollout of a “digital wallet” which would include age-verification controls.

Mr O’Donovan said the wallet would be available as an app and allow the government to send alerts and information out.

He said a large pilot would commence early next year, involving around 2,000 people aged over and under 18.

The development of the digital wallet is being led by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, while Mr O’Donovan’s department is working with the office on providing an age verification tool as part of the wallet.

Mr O’Donovan said they would be able to restrict in legislation the level of information being transferred from the digital wallet to social media platforms.

Ireland is moving ahead with its own plans as the EU has not reached a consensus on the issue.

“You wouldn’t allow a child into a bar to sit up at the counter and drink gin and tonic,” Mr O’Donovan said at Government Buildings in Dublin on Wednesday.

“We’re allowing children access, in an uncontrolled manner, to some of the most heinous material online.

We will be examining all aspects of this, including the impacts and the use of algorithms to direct people to certain areas and that clearly is an issue

“As a parent and as a teacher, but more importantly, in this role as minister with responsibility for it, it disappoints me that we’re in a situation where we have to act on our own over the last number of years, that we haven’t got to consensus in Europe with regard to how we move forward on this.

“I hope to use, as the chair of the European Council of communications ministers next year, the opportunity to push this really to the fore and the theme of our department will be ‘protecting the child online’.”

He said he was “annoyed” that the European Union had not yet acted on this issue, and said “the failure” of its institutions to act as one voice “is to our collective shame”.

He added: “From a public health point of view, and I think this is the public health policy issue of our generation, and no more than the smoking ban was back in the late ’90s or early ’00s, this is akin to that.”

Mr O’Donovan was asked about concerns that children could get around age-related restrictions, to which he replied, “we have to try”.

He said: “And if at first we don’t succeed, we’re going to try it again.”

He added: “We’re not talking about removing children from technology and sending them on a one-way ticket back into the Stone Age, and what we are doing is talking about protecting their innocence.”

He was also asked about whether Ireland would follow Australia’s lead at some point and implement a social media ban for children aged under 16.

“There’s no point in me coming out here and saying ‘we’re going to close the internet’ or do something cracked, because we’ll wind up inside court and it’s not going to get anywhere.”

Earlier, the Government was urged by the opposition to restrict “toxic” social media algorithms over potential harms being done to children.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the European Commission was already investigating social media algorithms and outlined measures taken by government to protect children online.

The issue was raised by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who quoted a High Court judge who likened children using the internet unhindered to them “playing with matches”.

Ms Cairns acknowledged that regulating sites online was a “hugely complex issue” that governments around the world were grappling with, referencing Australia’s social media ban for children.

She said she had issues with such a ban, including the fact that current age restrictions online are not enforced.

“Delaying access to social media sites does nothing about the recommender algorithms that are feeding children toxic content,” she said.

She quoted from studies that found social media platforms show young teenagers content about self-harm and suicide, and “bombarded” teenage boys with misogynistic content.

Ms Cairns said: “Social media platforms now routinely show graphic, violent or racist videos to people who are not looking for that content.

“This isn’t just having a hugely damaging impact on children; it is massively corrosive for society.

“It is spreading misinformation and hate through communities like wildfire.”

She asked if the Government would regulate algorithms that direct harmful and extremist content to people.

Mr Martin said there needed to be “coordinated, robust and rights-respecting” responses to social media, and that the response should span education, parental supports and age-verification controls.

He said a culture of strong self-esteem and self-respect should be created through the education system so that children can “withstand, be resilient in the face of whatever comes at you in life”.

“We’re also developing a secure, privacy-focused approach to age verification and we’re working to include age verification functionality in Ireland’s digital wallet under the EU project,” he said.

“That’s about giving parents and young people a robust, government-backed mechanism to protect privacy, and a large-scale pilot is planned for early next year.”

He said they had also reduced phone distractions in classrooms and that 462 schools had drawn down €6 million worth of funding with the aim of reducing phone use in classrooms through purchasing material such as phone pouches.

He acknowledged that the US believes the EU is over-regulating “the digital space”, but said “I don’t think we are”.

He added: “We will be examining all aspects of this, including the impacts and the use of algorithms to direct people to certain areas and that clearly is an issue.

“The European Commission has launched investigations into these powerful algorithm influences, and especially young users online, so the European Commission is already working on that aspect.”