Media regulator expects to have up to eight probes ongoing into social media platforms for rule breaches

Social media platform X is being investigated by Coimisiún na Meán under the Digital Services Act. Picture: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images

The media regulator expects to have up to eight investigations ongoing into major online platforms for potential breaches of the rules aimed at keeping people safe online by this time next year, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Coimisiún na Meán’s digital services commissioner John Evans told the Oireachtas Media Committee that after it opened its first formal investigation earlier this month into Elon Musk-owned X, the regulator had reached a “level of maturity” to begin stepping up its enforcement action.

It came after multiple committee members raised concerns about the widespread availability of pornography online that can be accessed by children, as well as concerns about misinformation and personal abuse being dished out on social platforms.

One was Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh, who said children were able to see violent content on social media such as the murder of American right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk within minutes of it happening, and said recommender systems were not working as they should to protect minors.

“We are a new enough regulator, [with] new enough legislation,” Mr Evans said. “We only have the Online Safety Code since the middle of the summer. What we’ve been doing is monitoring and sending information requests to the different platforms.

The concerning one is X because it permits pornography and gratuitous violence and, because it has made the decision to do that, it has to have effective age assurance measures.

With the Irish Online Safety Code and the European Digital Services Act, Coimisiún na Meán has a legislative basis to hold platforms to account and keeps users safe online, while minors should not be able to access adult content or content promoting suicide or self harm.

Its recently announced investigation into X was under the Digital Services Act, and Mr Evans said there were further probes going on at European level into major pornography sites based on the continent.

He said at the same time these investigations were announced, the Irish regulator took part in a coordinated action with other member states to clamp down on “smaller” platforms offering adult content.

“If you come down hard in regulatory terms on a few players, users will move to other platforms,” he said.

Mr Evans said efforts to coordinate an approach were important, and highlighted a “face-off” between regulators in France and the website Pornhub.

“Pornhub has geoblocked its service in France,” he said. “You can expect that kind of pushback across the board from these companies because it’s such a lucrative area.”