Social media firms 'not forthcoming' on age verification, Norma Foley claims

When asked if Coimisiún na Meán could compel platforms to introduce age verification, Norma Foley said she did not want to pre-empt the work of the online safety commissioner but said she would “certainly like to see tighter controls around age verification” introduced. File picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Social media platforms and phone companies were “not forthcoming” when pressed on the implementation of effective age verification mechanisms, Education Minister Norma Foley has claimed.

She met the companies for a summit on online safety issues on Wednesday. While representatives from Meta, Google, Microsoft and TikTok took part, X, formerly known as Twitter, did not attend despite being invited.