Letters to the Editor: Tech giants must be regulated

'While the regulation of harmful and illegal content is welcome, we cannot forget that children are exposed to large volumes of harmful online ads'

'The main stakeholders responsible for implementing effective policies to protect children from the harmful impact of marketing should be trusted public authorities.' Picture: iStock

The column 'Richard Hogan: For too long, social media operated outside the law, and our children have suffered’ (June 5) spoke of the launch of the Online Safety Codes by Coimisiún na Meán, noting: “We need robust legislation to protect children and to end the era of self-regulation of ‘big tech’.”

But one issue that seems to be glossed over in the discourse on the codes is that while we look to end the self-regulation of ‘big tech’, we are simultaneously risking leaving the regulation of large swathes of the content children do see to self-regulatory industry bodies.