Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 October 2025
310. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the position regarding the review of ways to enforce age verification obligations on online service providers and the commitment to hold them to account for failure to do so, as committed to in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52713/25]
View answerIt is my view that robust age verification is essential for keeping children safe online. I am committed to working across Government and with all stakeholders to ensure children and young people can be safe from harmful or illegal content online, in particular, through robust age verification.
Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Code, which applies to video-sharing platforms established in Ireland, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X, makes it clear that simply requiring self-declaration of age is no longer sufficient for platforms to meet their legal obligations. Part B of the Code, which has applied since July, obliges them to implement effective age assurance measures to ensure that, for example, adult-only video content cannot normally be seen by children.
Also in July, the European Commission published guidance on implementing Article 28 of the Digital Services Act, which deals with protecting minors. The guidance set out how platforms should address the risk of children and young people being exposed to illegal online content including by means of age-verification or age-assurance, setting children’s accounts as private by default, adjusting recommender systems and allowing children to block or mute users.
The Online Safety Framework is relatively new and the focus now is on implementation to ensure platforms meet their regulatory obligations. Failure to adequately fulfil these obligations can lead to significant financial sanctions and continued non-compliance can lead to criminal sanctions for senior management under the OSMR.
In June, I met the main social media companies and reiterated the importance of age verification. The social media companies outlined the work that they were doing to improve online safety for minors. To be clear, the onus is on the platforms to ensure that there is effective age assurance in place.
However, we must all continue to build on work to date to make sure there are trustworthy systems in place for verifying age that respects users’ rights, including data protection. To that end, my officials are working with the Government’s Chief Information Officer and his Office to look at practical technical solutions which preserve privacy and are interoperable, including as part of the Digital Wallet being developed using MyGovID.
I will be including a commitment to this effect in the Government’s updated National Digital Strategy which will be published later this year. In my view, it is a vital part of the picture in terms of providing real assurance that children are the age they claim to be and to ensure they are not exposed to harmful or illegal content.
