Coimisiún na Meán have launched a new binding set of rules for video sharing platforms.
The online regulator is urging people to report harmful online content to support its finalised Safety Code.
Digital Services Commissioner John Evans has admitted “reporting fatigue” exists among social media users.
"It creates data points for us to then go back and see if the system is working well," the Commissioner said.
"If you're unhappy when you flag something, with the response that you get, you can come to Coimisiún na Meán and raise a complaint.
"We will then look at the pattern of these complaints and decide whether or not there are issues for us that we might address through supervision or escalate to enforcement, even."
New rules
A press release from the commission informed that this new Code introduces rules on video-sharing platforms to protect people, especially children, from harmful video and associated content, including:
- Prohibiting the uploading or sharing of harmful content on their services including cyberbullying, promoting self-harm or suicide and promoting eating or feeding disorders as well as incitement to hatred or violence, terrorism, child sex abuse material, racism and xenophobia.
- Using age assurance to prevent children from encountering pornography or gratuitous violence online and having age verification measures in place as appropriate.
- Providing parental controls for content which may impair the physical, mental, or moral development of children under 16.
Some elements of these rules become active in the middle of November, with others not active until 2025.
Launch of Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Code in Dublin. (21.10.2024) Image: Maxwells Dublin
