Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The US Surgeon General sought a tobacco-style labelling on social media this week. He cited the damage to mental health and well-being for younger people due to high levels of exposure to social media which damages self-esteem, causes feelings of depression and a decline in the quality and quantity of their relationships, particularly for young women. He cited that these are not a failure of willpower or parenting, but rather the unleashing of powerful technologies without adequate safety measures.

There are two questions I wish to pose. Should we ask the ESRI, which has the Growing Up in Ireland database, to explore the impact of social media exposure to young people in Ireland? Given the EU approach to putting the onus on platforms, are the Irish platforms assessing the risk of exposure, or uncontrolled exposure in some cases, to young people on social media?

See this speech in context