Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for coming in. It has been quite an interesting discussion, particularly this week and last week as well. I welcome the news regarding the commission and its actions following the applicability of the Digital Services Act over the weekend, Given that it is an ongoing investigation, however, the less we say about that, the better.

I welcome that the witnesses said several times that the era of self-regulation is over because in reality, self-regulation is not regulation at all. We have seen platforms shirking their responsibility. We have seen platforms engage knowingly, I would argue, in dangerous and exploitative business practices of which our children are definitely on the cutting edge and receiving end. That has caused quite significant harm. I welcome, therefore, Coimisiún na Meán's commitment to regulation. The witnesses are very new in their roles; they are beginning their journey. I absolutely welcome the regulation. A nervousness I have, however, is that in many other areas, we have brought in regulators and they have not been as sharp-elbowed or sharp-toothed as we have needed them to be. The witnesses are very new so I am not saying this about them, but I am expressing a concern that hopefully, going forward, this strong sense of strong regulation we are getting from them really comes true.

I had some notes on other regulators but I will leave that aside and not start talking about others. One of my concerns is about regulatory capture, particularly when the witnesses are talking about people coming to consult with them with their safety plans and about safety by design. We have seen with other regulators that when consultation like that happens, these things become frozen. The regulators will say that they helped to design it so they know it is fine, even though problems emerge later and they are not willing to look at it. I want assurances from the witnesses that in such cases, they will be willing to open up and peek under the bonnet and revisit previous decisions or have an independent system where they can be looked at again.

Is there a timeline for when Coimisiún na Meán hopes to have the online safety code finished, ready to go and enforceable? Has there been any engagement between the youth advisory committee and the commission? Is the commission involved in these things? Is it able to act as a conduit so that the voices of young people are heard and they have an opportunity to engage with the commission?

I had questions on the trusted flagger but I think they have been answered.

I wish to say something about the AI-driven recommender systems. We received some very clear evidence from the experts last week on the dangers these pose and the view that they should be turned off by default. I would recommend that and I would welcome the commission's views on it.