Social media giant X fails in court challenge against Irish media regulator over Online Safety Code

X wanted the court to quash Coimisiún na Meán's decision from last October to adopt certain sections of the Online Safety Code, which applies binding rules to video-sharing platforms headquartered in Ireland

Last week, Coimisiún na Meán wrote to X to express its concerns it had not adopted measures to verify the ages of users to allow them to watch pornography on the platform. Picture: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

Ireland’s media regulator has successfully defended a High Court challenge from social media giant X over its new Online Safety Code.

The judgment of Mr Justice Conleth Bradley was delivered on Tuesday in the judicial review taken by X, formerly Twitter, against Coimisiún na Meán over the code, which fully took effect last week.

Both sides have been on a collision course over the Online Safety Code, which obliges major platforms based in Ireland like X, Meta, and TikTok to adopt safeguards to protect children online.

Last week, Coimisiún na Meán wrote to X to express its concerns it had not adopted measures to verify the ages of users to allow them to watch pornography on the platform.

It gave the Elon Musk-owned firm until last Friday to respond and it did so, with X saying it had adopted such age assurance measures in Ireland. The regulator said it would now assess if this was robust enough to adhere to the code.

It follows similar laws coming into force in the UK at the same time, which Mr Musk has hit out at and claimed “its purpose is suppression of the people”.

Virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allow internet users to mask where they are browsing from, have surged in popularity in the past week as these new measures took effect. 

In Ireland, two VPN providers are in the top five most downloaded apps on the Apple store in the “utilities” section this week.

Advocates have said Coimisiún na Meán must be proactive in tackling the big tech firms to which the code applies, to prevent children being exposed to pornography, extreme violence, self-harm content, and cyberbullying.

The High Court had previously heard X had accused Ireland’s watchdog of “regulatory overreach” in its approach to restrictions on certain video content.

The company wanted the court to quash the commission’s decision from last October to adopt certain sections of the Online Safety Code, which applies binding rules to video-sharing platforms headquartered in Ireland. Penalties for breaching the code could be as high as 10% of a company’s turnover.

The company had further asked the court to overturn Coimisiún na Meán’s decision to apply the code to X.

The regulator fully defended its position in the High Court, and said it had developed codes and practices for keeping people safe online in line with Irish and European legislation.

Mr Justice Bradley, having considered the arguments, said he did not believe X was entitled to the reliefs it had sought.

He said X had placed “insufficient weight” on its argument that provisions of the code went further than what was required in transposing EU legislation.

The judge also said sections of the code do “not amount to an impermissible or inconsistent overreach” of the provisions of EU legislation, meaning Coimisiún na Meán had acted within its legislative powers.

Mr Justice Bradley listed the case for mention on Thursday.

In a statement, Coimisiún na Meán said: “We welcome the court’s judgment and will study it in full before commenting further."

X was contacted for comment.