Coimisiún na Meán’s Investigations team has today (08.09.2026) commenced the first formal investigation under Ireland’s Online Safety Code, into the provider of the X online platform (X).
Following reviews by An Coimisiún’s Platform Supervision team concerns arose in relation to the potential ineffective implementation of age assurance mechanisms by X. Under the Online Safety Code, age assurance is required on the X platform to ensure that children do not see videos depicting pornography or extreme/gross and gratuitous violence or acts of cruelty on the platform.
Separately, as the X platform allows adult-only content and also allows children under the age of 16 to use its service, it is required by the Online Safety Code to provide parental control systems to ensure that parents and guardians have control over what type of content their children encounter. A concern exists that the parental controls put in place by X may not be effective, do not have minimum requirements, are hard to locate and are not brought to the attention of new users at sign-up stage, as required by the Code.
The investigation will examine:
- Whether there are effective age assurance measures in place by X, to ensure that adult-only video content cannot normally be seen by children. Age assurance based solely on self-declaration is not considered effective – Section 12(10) of the Online Safety Code.
- Whether the parental control systems put in place by X are under the control of the end-user with respect to video content that may impair the physical, mental or moral development of children – Section 14(1) of the Online Safety Code.
- Whether the parental control systems put in place by X have the minimum functions required under the Code – Section 14(2) of the Online Safety Code.
- Whether X appropriately draws the attention of users to the parental control systems they make available – Section 14(4) of the Online Safety Code.
- Whether X ensures that their parental control systems are provided as an option to new users on account sign-up – Section 14(5) of the Online Safety Code.
John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán said: ‘’Children have a fundamental right to participate in society, which includes the digital world, and to be protected from harm, abuse and exploitation online. When developing Ireland’s Online Safety Code, our primary focus in Coimisiún na Meán was on protecting children from illegal and harmful content online and ensuring that parents and guardians had stronger methods to shape their children’s online experiences.
Our aim is clear: we want a media landscape that upholds the rights, wellbeing and development of children and their safe engagement with content. With the Online Safety Code, one part of our Online Safety Framework, we have outlined what we expect from video-sharing platforms used by children, and accessible to us all.
Platforms which are accessible to children and allow adult-only video content, such as pornography or extreme and gratuitous violence or acts of cruelty, must ensure that this content cannot normally be accessed by children by implementing effective age assurance measures. We have been clear that any age assurance measure based solely on self-declaration, is not sufficient.
We understand the concerns that parents and guardians have about content their children may be seeing online and concerns of strangers seeing their children’s content. Platforms which allow users under the age of 16 must have parental controls which are under the control of parents and guardians, they must ensure that these parental controls are effective and easy to locate, and they must draw users attention to these parental controls at account sign-up stage, for any parent or guardian who wishes to use them.
I know that the protection of children online is a concern for us all and for our part, Coimisiún na Meán will continue to exercise every opportunity to ensure a safe online environment for all, while recognising the need for a collective effort by regulators, policymakers, parents, guardians, children and their advocates to ensure that we hold online platforms accountable for what they do to keep our children safe online.’’
Today marks Coimisiún na Meán’s first investigation under the Online Safety Code. In addition to today’s investigation, An Coimisiún has opened five other investigations into platforms that are established in Ireland, within just the last year, under the EU Digital Services Act. An Coimisiún is also involved in four joint investigations which have been opened by the European Commission.
The investigation commenced today by the Investigations Team will be conducted pursuant to Part 8B of the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended. If a platform is found in violation of the Online Safety Code, Coimisiún na Meán can apply an administrative financial sanction, including a fine of up to 10% of relevant annual turnover, or €20 million, whichever is greater.
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