Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans in relation to the regulation of social media; the engagement there has been with the EU on this issue; the plans there are to disrupt the spread of disinformation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10105/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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There is now a significant body of legislation providing the foundation for Ireland’s online safety framework, including the regulation of social media.

Coimisiún na Meán, as Ireland’s new online safety and media regulator, is at the heart of that framework. It was established under the Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) Act, one of three main elements of the framework and the Act which transposed the EU Audio-Visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). The other two elements are the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), under which An Coimisiún is Ireland’s Digital Services Coordinator, and as a competent authority in respect of the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation.

As provided for under the OSMR Act, An Coimisiún adopted and applied the new online safety code for designated video-sharing platforms established in Ireland, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X. The code sets out what they must do to protect users: in particular, they are obliged to put measures in place to protect children from harmful content online, have age assurance measures where appropriate, provide parental controls and user-friendly, transparent reporting and flagging mechanisms.

As Digital Services Coordinator under the EU Digital Services Act, An Coimisiún works with the European Commission to ensure platforms put in place the systems and processes required to minimise the availability of illegal content.

A failure to comply with any of these measures can lead to significant financial sanctions and, under the OSMR Act, continued non-compliance can lead to criminal sanctions for senior management.

This framework is derived from EU legislation. Along with other relevant Departments, my Department continues to engage at EU level on these matters. For example, my Department is engaging with the European Commission and other EU Member States on the upcoming review of the Audio Visual Media Services Directive. All of the elements of the online safety framework are relatively new and we must focus now on implementation to ensure services meet their regulatory obligations.

In terms of disinformation, my Department provided the Secretariat to the independently chaired working group that was established to develop a national counter disinformation strategy, as recommended by the Future of Media Commission. The strategy takes a rights-based approach based on key principles, including protection of freedom of expression.

The Strategy has recently been finalised and submitted to me. I intend to bring it to Government shortly following which it will be published.