Published by the Irish media regulator Coimisiún na Meán on Monday, October 21, the long-awaited Online Safety Code introduces new binding rules for social media companies to better protect users in Ireland. The code prohibits content that promotes acts of terror, cyberbullying, any method or type of self-harm or incites violence or hatred.

The new rules apply to all video-sharing platforms whose European headquarters are based in Ireland, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Udemy, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit. These social media companies must adhere to the rules set out by the Irish regulator or face fines of up to €20 million or 10% of their annual turnover.

The Online Safety Code introduces more robust parental controls for guardians of children below the age of 16, and platforms are required to have age-verification tools for pornographic content. Moreover, social media giants must ensure that they have reporting mechanisms to allow users to flag potentially illegal or harmful content.

The code strictly prohibits any type of content promoting terrorism, cyberbullying, suicide, self-harm or incitement to violence and hatred. As established by the code, social media platforms are to take the appropriate measures to protect the public from content containing incitement to violence or hatred based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

The new rules come after the incitement to violence or hatred provisions were removed from the hate crime bill passed in the Seanad earlier this month. If approved, the provisions would have included protections from hate speech even in cases where it took place online.

There is now – rightly – a legal duty on Big Tech to take action against the spread of incitement to hatred & violence on their platforms.

This sewer of a platform being the main offender.

Robust enforcement must follow. @CNaM_ie @GCNmag @nxfie #StopHate #OnlineSafetyCode https://t.co/tHv6dwDg2V

— Adam Long 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@adamlong80) October 22, 2024

Some social media experts have pointed out holes in the Online Safety Code, as it lacks appropriate regulations targeting “harmful or toxic” algorithms. While the document does reference algorithms, there are no particular rules targeting the mechanisms that automatically curate the content that users find in their feeds.

Research conducted by Ireland Thinks earlier this year found that 74% of Irish people approve of stricter rules for social media algorithms, while 82% are in favour of forcing these platforms to stop automatically gathering data about users’ sexual desires, political and religious views, health conditions or ethnicity and using it to select their content.

In a statement, Online Safety Commissioner Niamh Hodnett said, “The adoption of the Online Safety Code brings an end to the era of social media self-regulation.

“Online safety needs a whole of society approach, and we all have a role to play. Just as we do in the real world, all of us can think about how we behave online and about the impact of what we say and do on others,” the statement further reads. “The internet is not a lawless space, and An Garda Síochána will deal with criminal behaviour online, just as they do offline.”