THE GOVERNMENT WILL no longer be dealing with tech platforms that host harmful content as “partners”, instead moving to an “enforcement model”, particularly when it comes to protecting children online, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said. 

Donnelly said the days of “asking them nicely” are over and that recent and upcoming legislation will be used to punish websites and apps that pose a threat to children’s wellbeing. 

“I think the time of asking or expecting online platforms do the right thing is over,” he said. 

“I think we might as well be asking tobacco companies to do the right thing.”

He said it is his belief that “harms to young people as a result of online interactions constitute a public health crisis”. 

“I think the partnership approach is over. I wouldn’t suggest the partnership approach with tobacco companies. I’m not suggesting a partnership approach with online platforms.”

Children are encountering violent, misogynistic and other mentally distressing content online, Donnelly said.  

Speaking at the launch of the Online Health Taskforce, which has been allocated €1 million in funding for public awareness campaigns, Donnelly referenced a report about children’s activity online by CyberSafeKids. 

The taskforce will hold its first meeting next week and is chaired by Jillian van Turnhout, a children’s rights advocate and former senator.

She said the relished the task of tackling what she described as a “persistent crisis”. 

“We need to ensure that robust mechanisms are put in place to protect young people,” Donnelly said. “Parents cannot be expected to deal with this on their own.” 

The taskforce will provide recommendations of “radical actions Ireland can take to keep young people safe”, the Minister said, adding that he wants Ireland to be a leader in the area of online safety and enforcement. 

“This task force will be one important part in saying that we have had enough and it is time for radical change,” Donnelly said. 

He also referenced the recently passed EU Digital Services Act and Ireland’s pending Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, which he said would be used to punish platforms that publish harmful content. 

He said the upcoming Act would give the State the power to fine tech companies “huge amounts of money”. He did not specify figures but said that the fines would amount to a percentage of an offending company’s revenue. 

Asked if the State would also pursue individual owners and executives like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, he said that the taskforce would assess that. 

He also noted that social media companies are not the main offenders when it comes to impacting children. Youtube and the gaming platform Roblox are the most common sites where children are exposed to abuse and disturbing content, according to CyberSafeKids. 

As well as finding that a quarter of children between 8 and 12 have encountered harmful content online, the CyberSafeKids report identified a drop in parental oversight of children’s activity online, which Donnelly said showed the need for raising public awareness. 

Asked if the approach could result in the banning of an offending website in light of Brazil blocking X this week, Donnelly said that would be something for the taskforce to determine but that those powers already exist in the law. 

Yesterday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he would not be in favour of such a measure. 

Donnelly said that companies can no longer rely on the idea that they are “notice boards” with no control over what their users publish because so much of the disturbing content is pushed by their algorithms. 

He mentioned one demonstration of a newly created Snapchat account posing as a 12-year-old girl whose interests were camogie and ponies. Within minutes the account was being fed videos promoting male violence against girls. 

The new taskforce will submit an interim report in six month’s time and will deliver its final report in September 2025.