Social Media

The majority of children in Ireland think that it would be better to teach them about staying safe online rather than banning them from using social media. Meanwhile almost half of parents/caregivers also favour online safety education over a social media ban. These are just some of the key finding

The Children’s Rights Alliance has noted with interest the multi-billion-dollar settlement reached by Meta in another landmark lawsuit involving 29 US States over the platform’s failure to adequately protect children and young people using its services. Speaking in response to the settle

Meta will restrict how children use Instagram and Facebook during school hours and at night as part of an $18bn (£13.2bn) (€15.5bn) settlement over claims that it deliberately made its apps addictive for teenagers.

The Hope and Courage Collective is calling on Coimisiún na Meán to engage with Meta after a new report found that social media platforms are playing a significant role in amplifying anti-Muslim hatred in Ireland.

Coimisiún na Meán has begun two separate investigations into Meta, the provider of the Instagram and Facebook platforms, under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).  The investigations will assess whether these platforms have contravened Article 27 (in particular Article 27.3) and Ar

Greece has become the latest country to announce the introduction of a blanket ban on children's use of social media. New legislation will establish a "digital age of majority" prohibiting access to social media for children under the age of 15 with effect from 1 January 2027, the Greek government a

Tech giants Meta and Google have been ordered to pay $6 million in damages to a woman who sued them over the mental health impact of her childhood social media addiction. The 20-year-old California woman, known as Kaley and identified in court by her initials KGM, testified that she began using YouT

The UK government is seeking views on banning under-16s from social media through a formal consultation launched today. Many countries, including Ireland, are considering following in the footsteps of Australia, which introduced a world-first ban in December.

The UK's data protection regulator has fined Reddit £14.47 million (around €16.6m) for children's privacy failures. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the online platform had failed to apply a robust age assurance mechanism to prevent under-13s from creating accounts.

Coimisiún na Meán has published new guidance for researchers seeking to access data under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Article 40 of the DSA makes provision for researchers to access data from 'very large online platforms' (VLOPs) or 'very large online search engines' (VLOSEs) for t

A "bigger conversation" is needed before the introduction of a blanket social media ban for under-16s which could come with its own risks, the Children's Rights Alliance (CRA) has said. The government is expected to agree today to introduce legislation banning social media for under-16s, following i

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk's social media company, X, in relation to the AI-generated images scandal. The DPC's inquiry into X Internet Unlimited Company (XIUC) under section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018 is separate to an ongoing EU investig

WhatsApp Ireland can bring an EU court challenge to the imposition of a €225 million GDPR fine which followed an investigation by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. The General Court had previously held that any challenge to the 202

Meta is facing EU action after being told that excluding third-party AI assistants from WhatsApp while promoting its own Meta AI breaches EU competition law. The European Commission is proposing to impose interim measures on Meta in relation to the change to its WhatsApp Business Solution Terms, whi

TikTok is too addictive, according to the European Commission, which has preliminarily found the video-sharing platform in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission's findings follow an investigation launched in February 2024 focused on design features such as infinite scroll, autopla