The Oireachtas committee has been informed about the “inestimable harm” caused by social media companies exposing young individuals to unsafe and unsuitable content.
Members of Meta, TikTok and X were present at the Oireachtas committee gathering on children’s issues, which occurred shortly after Tánaiste Micheál Martin cautioned tech corporations to eliminate underage users from their platforms.
Fine Gael TD for Cork North West, Michael Creed, stated that the pitches from social media companies perfectly aligned with what a media advisor would seek, mentioning aspects such as “reliability, openness, empowerment and content regulation”.
However, he clarified that the reality was quite different: significant, measurable harm was being perpetrated, with the potential for even more harm that couldn’t be quantified, particularly in regards to cognitive damage. He added that it’s not uncommon for young people to spend upwards of six to eight hours daily on these platforms, which is detrimental to their wellbeing.
He asserted that policy makers and regulators needed to adopt a much firmer stance.
Creed inquired into the contradiction of setting the digital consent age at 16, yet permitting 13-year-olds to create TikTok or Snapchat accounts. He argued that social media firms should not praise themselves for deactivating millions of underage profiles, as these young individuals should never have been allowed on these platforms to start with.
He likened the situation to issuing driving licenses to 12 or 13-year-olds, and insisted there should be mechanisms in place for these companies to verify and confirm applications.
Echoing these sentiments, Senator Malcolm Byrne of the Fianna Fáil party expressed his scepticism about the effectiveness of algorithms in detecting unsuitable content, stating that current efforts were not successful.
Misrepresentation concerning the recent unrest in Sydney was fueled by content sourced from Ireland, leading to significant criticism by the Australian Social Media Commissioner. He emphasised the unavoidable impact of online content once viewed, highlighting that both teenagers and the broader public are exposed to severe misinformation, disinformation and gratuitously violent content, which can be damaging.
Senator Erin McGreehan of Fianna Fáil described the vast amount of social media as an unwholesome environment, presenting risks to children due to the spread of risky topics, such as self-harm and suicide. She voiced her alarming concerns about this highly terrifying reality.
Senator Mary Seery-Kearney from Fine Gael criticised WhatsApp for lowering its user age limit to 13, arguing this decision indicated disregard for youths’ mental health. She believed that the rise in anxiety levels among teenagers is related to their escalated dependence on devices for communication rather than direct, face-to-face interaction. She questioned the feasibility of addressing mental health issues when the prevalent business model contradicts it.
Sinn Féin’s TD Kathleen Funchion pinpointed an inherent problematic aspect in the operation of recommendation algorithms and proposed more stringent age verification as a solution to mitigate issues stemming from fictitious or automated accounts.
Representing TikTok, Susan Moss declared user safety as the dominating priority that shapes the company. Now, the company has an impressive force of over 40,000 trust and safety professionals committed to guarding users online. Striving to elevate the efforts to tackle threats to young users online, the company pledged a commitment to invest substantially in trust and safety and keenly monitor using innovative technology.
Dualta Ó́ Broin, leading public policy for Meta in Ireland, advocated for safe platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where robust age verification at the operating system or app store level can help maintain a non-threatening environment for the young users. He emphasised that this does not waive individual applications’ duty to regulate age meticulously.
The European Government Affairs Director at X, previously known as Twitter, Claire Dilé, highlighted that their platform isn’t the preferred choice for teens and children. She shared that they didn’t have a business division particularly geared towards the young demographic. Dilé further disclosed that X’s internal data for the initial quarter of 2024 revealed that active users in Ireland aged between 13 and 17 made up less than 1 per cent of their total account holders.