Ireland must fight against EU deregulation of online safety, says Gibney

Online safety measures being brought to Cabinet this week fall short of effective solutions to the dangers our most vulnerable face online, according to Social Democrats communications spokesperson Sinéad Gibney.

The Dublin Rathdown TD said, “it’s welcome that the government has acknowledged that online safety is of critical importance as we continue to lead increasingly digital lives, and it’s crucial that potential solutions are explored on a cross-party basis – however, the coalition’s approach to online safety, and in particular age verification, leaves much to be desired – I have serious concerns regarding privacy and data protection when it comes to introducing changes.”

Gibney noted there are three bodies that could manage Ireland’s data in order to introduce an age verification function for online platforms: the State, the platforms themselves, and third party entities.

“Unfortunately, none of these options have been fleshed out into a credible pathway forward,” she said.

“The State, to this point, has not demonstrated that it can manage such a wide-ranging change; its track record on online safety has been dismal up to this point, showing a complete lack of political will. On the other hand, online platforms have shown a complete disregard for our data and seem intent on resisting any sort of positive legislative change.”

“This leaves third parties, but there has been no details on how a tender like that would work, what it would cost, and if an organisation exists which could implement these changes in an effective manner.

“While age verification is a necessary tool to protect vulnerable members of our society from potential harms, it is not a fail-safe – children have proven that they can overcome these safeguards in other jurisdictions. Age also doesn’t measure vulnerability – at-risk adults are not protected by such initiatives.

“Age verification ignores the bigger picture – that harmful content continues to exist online unmoderated. We cannot stop discussing online safety once age restrictions are introduced.

The Social Democrats TD said that EU regulation is ultimately needed to make the internet a safer police, but the Digital Services Act, AI Act and GDPR are at risk of being watered-down via the Digital Omnibus.

“Ireland must rally against this dangerous level of deregulation,” she said.

“At home, the AI act was set up in the Department of Enterprise on the complete wrong footing – although the intention is ultimately to make it an independent office, I have concerns that there are two many conflicts within the Department to make safety regulation a priority.

“The government must get its act together on what’s quickly becoming a defining issue of our age.”