Ms Alex Cooney:

I thank the Deputy Costello for his question. Liability is an interesting issue. Coimisiún na Meán has spoken about holding leaders of companies to account through fines with regard to the content hosted on the platforms. We are seeing a little bit of an improvement on liability. This is something that remains to be seen as we see the publication of the first online safety code. The issue is at what point a breach has clearly occurred. The current wording is not clear on when a platform will have crossed a line. Regarding the wording on the online safety code, during the consultation it was felt it would be too stringent to set specific targets and timeframes for companies to adhere to. This is concerning; if we do not set the bar at a certain level how will we know when it has been crossed? The liability issue is potentially there but there has to be a very clear bar to be crossed. I am not yet sure this will be there but it remains to be seen.

I fully agree with the point about regulation typically being underenforced. This is something we need to change. We also need to look more broadly and not only at regulation in terms of how we address the issues we are speaking about. Yes, regulation and enforcement are very much key strategies to protect children but we also need to look at education programmes and general awareness programmes to ensure we look at this very holistically. These things should work together so that society in general is more aware, parents make good and informed decisions about children's use of and access to these products, there are good opt-in and opt-out options and things are not just on by default as Dr. Ryan mentioned earlier, and there is real choice in these matters. I hope we see more holistic solutions being recommended and put in place in future.