Parental controls
The internet was not designed for children. According to Ireland’s Online Safety Code, video-sharing platforms based in Ireland whose terms and conditions allow under 16s on their sites must have parental controls.
These protect children from seeing age-inappropriate content which may include pornography or explicit violence.
If you would like to learn more about parental controls on various video-sharing platforms, you can read more about them through the links below. On some platforms, you may need to be logged in to access this information.
Links to parental controls on platforms
Safety resources for parents (You need to be logged in to see the family centre.)
TikTok
How to complain
Under the Online Safety Code, parental controls on designated video sharing platforms should be easy to find and easy to use. If you find this isn’t the case, you have the right to complain about this and other online safety code compliance issues.
You can make complaints directly to platforms. If you are not satisfied, you can also get in touch with the Coimisiún na Meán contact centre. We are always interested in understanding if platforms are following the rules or not.
Examples of avenues through which you may be able to make complaints to platforms include:
Further resources
For an overview of the different types of parental controls that exist and how they work, you may wish to consult Webwise’s webpage – Online safety – How to set up parental controls
The Online Safety Programme at Barnardos and Cybersafekids also have pdf handouts on parental controls.
To get in touch, you can email [email protected] or look at Cybersafekids website.
Disclaimer: This webpage includes information to help inform the public about settings and complaint mechanisms which may be available on various platforms and more generally. This information is illustrative only, does not contain legal advice and does not represent the views of Coimisiún na Meán, including any views on compliance with regulatory requirements of the Online Safety Code or other regulations and laws. We will try to keep this information as helpful and as up to date as possible.