Irish children as young as 10 watched footage of US conservative influencer Charlie Kirk being shot dead in September, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Media has been told.
During a hearing on Wednesday, a number of TDs and Senators raised concerns about the type of content many children are viewing online.
Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh was critical of the fact that many social media platforms do not seem to enforce robust age verification processes.
“Children’s right to safety is not being protected,” she said.
READ MORE
“All of us here know that so many children under the age of 16, definitely, even under the age of 13, witnessed Charlie Kirk’s murder coming up on their ‘For You’ page.”
Ms Keogh said before the footage of Mr Kirk’s killing was widely shared, many parents “didn’t know what their kids were looking at online”.
She added that “kids as young as eight or nine are seeing pornography, violent pornography, on a daily basis”.
A “For You” page on social media suggests content a user may be interested in viewing. It is typically based on a person’s algorithm – content they have already engaged with – but often also includes content that is trending at any given time.
[ How can we keep our kids safe online? Here are some tips for parentsOpens in new window ]
Fianna Fáil TD Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere said his children showed him the Charlie Kirk shooting video.
“My daughter’s 10 years of age. She has TikTok, and I know all of her friends have TikTok. Now, maybe that’s a failure of me as a parent, but that’s the reality of the situation,” he said.
Tríona Quill, assistant secretary in the media and broadcasting division of the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, told the committee that “robust age verification” on such sites is “a basic requirement”.
She said officials in the Department were working with the Government’s chief information officer and his office “to look at practical technical solutions to age verification”.
“The online safety code requires platforms to have robust age verification in place to protect children from content that is inappropriate for children, such as pornography.”
Ms Quill said that, in terms of encountering content online, “algorithms and recommender systems can have harmful impacts on users, especially children”.
Niamh Hodnett, online safety commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán, said all platforms “have to protect the safety, security and privacy of children online”.
Ms Hodnett said specific obligations exist for video-sharing platforms to restrict content that is dangerous, violent or inappropriate.
“Platforms that allow adult content, such as pornography and extreme violence, must put in place effective age assurance to ensure that children cannot see this content,” she said.
