Tánaiste Simon Harris has recently called for an age restriction on social media use while Spain has become the latest country to consider following Australia in implementing a ban.
But a number of experts have pushed back against a similar move, describing it as a “blunt instrument” that does not protect children from harms on the “thousands” of sites that could fall outside a ban.
TDs and senators were warned by the Psychological Society of Ireland that “overly restrictive approaches” to regulation may “may push vulnerable young people towards less visible and less regulated online spaces”.
Senior clinical psychologist Dr Mark Smyth said many young people also experience connection online, and “don’t want to be seen as lonely”.
“Why do children keep going back to these websites even when they experience harm? It’s because they also experience connection and what they would rather do is have some connection – even if it’s marginally harmful – than risk being lonely.”
Speaking to the Oireachtas children’s committee, Dr Smyth said there is a risk of only discussing the larger platforms and falling into a gap shown by the Australian ban on social media for under-16s.
The ban covers the top 10 most commonly accessed platforms, which resulted in “thousands” of other, less regulated sites falling outside the ban.
“We have to make sure that in thinking about the big sites that we don’t cause the law of unintended harms, where we push them onto sites that are less regulated, less moderated but yet still cause harm.”
He said there are sites that parents are not aware of, while mainstream platforms do have a degree of “safety” built into them through parental control measures.
Social media has also “magnified” the issues faced by young people, including a rise in the rates of eating disorders and a “massive increase in their perception of not being good enough”.
Several witnesses pointed to the need for a “multi-faceted” approach to tackling online harms.
Barnardos chief executive Suzanne Connolly raised concerns around how AI algorithms and recommender algorithms can “shape children’s lives” and can “lead them towards more negative and extreme material”.
She said the organisation is increasingly concerned about AI, adding: “Parents cannot be expected to keep pace with dangers that children potentially face online. It underlines why safety by design, rather than reactive measures after harm has occurred, must become the norm.”
She said the social media ban in Australia provides an opportunity to see what “hasn’t worked”, which should inform the committee’s recommendations.
Ms Connolly said “safety by design” should be a legal standard, where platforms should have safer algorithms, effective reporting systems and protections against grooming and harmful content.
Practical supports should be provided to schools alongside Government and regulators strengthening oversight of “emerging harms”, including AI-generated abuse.
