Seanad debates

Monday, 11 July 2022

Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage

 

10:00 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to this group of amendments. I had intended to table another amendment in this group, but it was a narrow one put forward in the context of amendment No. 112 and commercial communications. I had wanted a general provision in respect of commercial communications and young people, which is one I would have pressed further.

In effect, these amendments seek to address the targeting of dangerous content at minors. I am concerned by the gaps in legislation highlighted by very high-profile cases, for example, in the UK and other jurisdictions, where attacks were linked to the targeting of advertisements for knives and other weapons at teenagers. I am trying to do two things here. I am trying to ensure the issue of targeting of advertisements for weapons is addressed, especially when such advertising is targeted at young people. It is not clear whether that will come under harmful content in the current draft of the Bill. There is also a wider issue I hope might be addressed during the Dáil debate, which is around age-inappropriate content in general.

The measures outlined in amendment No. 98 are not exclusionary. I gave examples of age-inappropriate online content in the amendment that might be included in the Bill, but I do not limit it to that. Age-inappropriate online content could include online advertisements or commercial communications advertising those same kinds of factors, such as high-salt or high-fat foods or alcohol. We have the media service codes and online harm codes but I am trying to address the issue of age-inappropriate online content in particular. The Bill outlines provisions relating to pornography and the "representations of, or of the effects of, gross or gratuitous violence" but, weirdly, advertisements for weapons may not constitute or may not, in fact, show the effects of "gross or gratuitous violence or acts of cruelty", even though they may facilitate such acts.

There is the issue of weapons in general but there are also the later mechanisms where there are provisions within online safety. I pressed some amendments on Committee Stage relating to the provision whereby there may be prohibition of certain kinds of content, so I was not able to re-table them. Emergency measures can be taken in respect of material that may constitute online harm. Similar mechanisms, including some of the mechanisms that will be made available to the commission in respect of material that constitutes online harm, may also be usefully made available to the commission in respect of age-inappropriate content, for example, requiring that such content be removed pending a period of investigation. Those amendments have not followed through but I will signal that as an area where some of the mechanisms around harmful content could be used in respect of age-inappropriate content. That is possibly a way we could practically strengthen protection of younger people in the Bill.

The Minister will also be aware, because I mentioned it on every Stage, of the frustration we have that, in general, we need to look to a prohibition. She will be aware a prohibition of targeted online advertisements, or commercial communications that are targeted at persons who are minors, where there is, for example, the profiling of minors, was a key debate in the digital services directive discussions. The Minister's argument is this is a data protection or data processing issue but where that profiling has been attached, or where we have advertisements that are specifically targeted at persons who are minors, we may need to look to a general prohibition. That does not mean materials cannot be advertised but it means there would not be targeted advertising that seeks out a particular audience that is younger.

Amendment No. 122 addresses this issue in the context of commercial communications that seek to promote weapons or the sale of weapons. A general provision, such as that we already inserted into the Data Protection Act 2018, should be considered. Amendments to that Act could also be considered. It is worth flagging because we have had general political agreement on this issue for more than four years but somehow have not moved forward to actually regulate regarding it.

I am sorry these amendments are a little tangled. It is because there is the general issue of how we tackle age-inappropriate content and the specific issue of weapons as something that should be captured by the current language around violence but might not be. I ask the Minister to address those two strands, whether she can accept these amendments or not.

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