Social media firms have 'too much discretion' over children's online safety with rules 'playing catch-up'

The Ombudsman for Children’s Office  will tell the Oireachtas Children’s Committee: 'Children do not want to be excluded from the digital world, but children need systemic safeguards — including safer platform design, meaningful age assurance that respects privacy, protection from algorithms, child-friendly complaints mechanisms, and clear accountability for companies.' File photo

Social media companies have “too much discretion” when it comes to their duty to keep children safe online, making monitoring and enforcement of these firms difficult, according to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office.

It will tell the Oireachtas Children’s Committee that evidence suggests the current legal framework to hold tech giants to account does not yet provide a “clear, predictable” regulatory environment that makes sure online platforms fully respect children’s rights.

“Children do not want to be excluded from the digital world,” it will say. “[But] children need systemic safeguards — including safer platform design, meaningful age assurance that respects privacy, protection from algorithms, child-friendly complaints mechanisms, and clear accountability for companies.” 

At the beginning of 2026, a feature using the artificial intelligence (AI) tool Grok on Elon Musk’s X platform allowed users to ask the tool to remove clothing from photos of women and children, and place them in sexually suggestive positions.

It provoked a global backlash, with X eventually saying it would suspend the feature in places where it is illegal and limit it to paid subscribers.

Oireachtas Children’s Committee submissions

Coimisiún na Meán’s online safety commissioner, Niamh Hodnett, will tell the committee that it will hold platforms to account and it shares the public’s concerns about Grok and nudification apps.

“There has been significant work undertaken to put the regulatory building blocks in place with regard to children and online safety,” she will say. “We will continue to build on this.” 

Assistant Garda Commissioner Angela Willis will highlight how technology has increased the speed, scale and anonymity with which offenders can operate, which has made prevention and enforcement “more complex”.

“As recently reported, offenders are leveraging AI tools to produce hyper-realistic deepfake child sexual abuse imagery and videos,” she will say. “An Garda Síochána continues to adapt to these challenges.” 

Also speaking at the committee, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) head of policy and public affairs, Fiona Jennings, will say that the pace of change in the digital space has meant that the rules are largely “playing catch-up”.

“[The] ISPCC’s overriding concern is that we are entering a new iteration of self-regulation: one where it is the responsibility of the end user to self-regulate their experience online; shifting the pendulum of burden on them,” she said.

Ms Jennings highlighted that this applies as parents must control a child’s screentime while facing algorithms that are designed to keep their attention, while they must also teach their children to be safe online.

Webwise, meanwhile, will say that only a small cohort of children favour a ban on social media for under-16s and efforts must be made to ensure they are kept safe online.

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The meeting comes after the European Commission launched an investigation into Grok and X’s recommender systems on Monday, weeks after other regulators, including Ofcom in the UK, launched probes of their own.

The first investigation launched by the European Commission into X, which took two years to complete, culminated in a €120m fine for the social media giant.