Author: Naomi Temple

Coimisiún na Meán welcomes the conclusion of the Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) process in relation to the Online Safety Code.

An Coimisiún notes that no comments on the Online Safety Code were received from the European Commission or other EU member states and we intend to adopt and apply the Online Safety Code to video-sharing platform services based in Ireland later in the Autumn.

We welcome the Court’s Judgment and the confirmation of our designation of Reddit and Tumblr as Video-Sharing Platform Services. We are moving forward with our draft Online Safety Code and expect to have it in place later this year, as part of our overall Online Safety Framework. We are committed to using our full range of powers to improve online safety for users in Ireland and across Europe. 

• The full Judgment – Reddit
• The full Judgment – Tumblr

• Newly published Decision Framework sets out step-by-step approach to deeming a hosting service provider (HSP) as ’exposed to terrorist content’
• These providers would then have to take specific measures to protect services from the dissemination of terrorist content
• The EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation (TCOR) is part of Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Framework

Coimisiún na Meán has today (13 June) published the decision-making process it will use to determine if a hosting service provider (HSP) in Ireland is exposed to terrorist content online. Social media platforms, web hosting services and cloud services are examples of HSPs.

If a hosting service provider is found to be exposed to terrorist content, it will be obliged to undertake specific measures. These can include:

• taking steps to protect its services from being used for the dissemination to the public of terrorist content
• reporting to Coimisiún na Meán on the specific measures it has taken – and will take – to comply with its obligations.
• where applicable, including in its terms and conditions provisions to address the misuse of its services for the dissemination to the public of terrorist content

The Decision Framework outlines the steps that Coimisiún na Meán will take in enforcing the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation (TCOR), part of the organisation’s Online Safety Framework.

The Terrorist Content Online Regulation provides for an EU-wide mechanism for counteracting the dissemination of terrorist content online and enabling the speedy removal of terrorism content by hosting service providers. Terrorism content is content that incites, solicits, threatens, or provides instruction on the commission of terrorist offences.

Under the legislation, An Garda Síochána is the competent authority under the Terrorist Content Online Regulation responsible for issuing removal orders for terrorist content to HSPs in Ireland. An Coimisiún’s role under the Terrorist Content Online Regulation commences once it has been informed that a hosting service provider based in Ireland has received two or more final removal orders for terrorist content from any other EU competent authority in the previous 12 months. An Coimisiún will then consider whether to apply the provisions of the Terrorist Content Online Regulation, following the Decision Framework for addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online.

Infringement by hosting service providers of the Terrorist Content Online Regulation can lead to the imposition of administrative fines, including financial penalties of up to four percent of global turnover.

Coimisiún na Meán’s Online Safety Commissioner Niamh Hodnett said: “Coimisiún na Meán is responsible for making digital services headquartered in Ireland accountable for how they protect people from harm online. Terrorist content is among the most dangerous categories of online content addressed by our Online Safety Framework.

“An Coimisiún will use every measure available under our Online Safety Framework to protect users from terrorist content online. The Decision Framework published today details the process Coimisiún na Meán will follow as Ireland’s competent authority under the EU’s Terrorist Content Online Regulation to determine if a hosting service provider is exposed to terrorist content and sets out the key obligations of a hosting service provider following such a decision. This Decision Framework is another step in protecting users of online services from harm.”

The Online Safety Framework consists of the Terrorist Content Online Regulation, the Digital Services Act, which prohibits illegal content on online platforms including terrorist content, and the recently published Online Safety Code which, when finalised will prohibit the uploading or sharing of terrorism content on video-sharing platform services.

• Decision Framework
• Supporting Q&A document outlining TCOR

Binding online safety rules will apply to Irish-based video-sharing platforms when finalised

Coimisiún na Meán has today (27.05.2024) published an updated draft Online Safety Code in response to its public consultation. The final Code will set binding rules applying to video-sharing platforms who have their EU headquarters in Ireland. The Code is being submitted to the European Commission today (27.05.2024) under the Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) Directive process, which involves a standstill period of 3-4 months. Once this process is complete, Coimisiún na Meán will finalise and apply the Code to video-sharing platforms with their EU Headquarters in Ireland.

The final Code will be part of Coimisiún na Meán’s overall Online Safety Framework. This Framework makes digital services accountable for how they protect people, especially children, from harm online. The updated Code, combined with the other parts of the Online Safety Framework, will deliver on the objectives of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, leading to safer online experiences for people across Ireland.

The Code introduces obligations on video-sharing platforms to protect their users from  harmful content, including:

• Prohibiting the uploading or sharing of harmful content on their services including cyberbullying, promoting self-harm or suicide and promoting eating or feeding disorders as well as incitement to hatred or violence, terrorism, child sex abuse material, racism and xenophobia.
• Using age assurance to prevent children from encountering pornography or gratuitous violence online and having age verification measures in place as appropriate.
• Providing parental controls for content which may impair the physical, mental, or moral development of children under 16.

The overall Online Safety Framework gives Coimisiún na Meán the tools to address the root causes of harm online, including the availability of illegal content, the harmful impacts of recommender systems, and inadequate protections for children on social media services.

The Online Safety Commissioner, Niamh Hodnett, said: “It is essential to create a safer online world for all of us, especially for our children. This updated Code is an important step forward to hold platforms to account for keeping people safe online. It takes account of responses to our public consultation and our consultation with our Youth Advisory Committee. We are now notifying the Code to the European Commission and once that process is complete we will apply it later this year.”

Executive Chairperson of Coimisiún na Meán, Jeremy Godfrey said: “Alongside our powers under the EU Digital Services Act and Terrorist Content Online Regulation, the Online Safety Code will give us a strong suite of tools to improve people’s lives online. We will ensure that we use our full range of powers to improve people’s online experiences.”  

Additional supporting documents

• More information on the draft Online Safety Code can be found here.
• Response to Consultation
• Report on consultation with Youth Advisory Committee
• Summary of Submission: Wagner-Hatfield Report
• Schedule of Submissions
• Submissions received

Coimisiún na Meán would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners of the IFTA Awards 2024, which the Irish Film and Television Academy hosted on Saturday. 

Several projects, funded by the Coimisiún na Meán Sound & Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme, received nominations and won awards. Sound & Vision is a funding scheme for television and radio programmes, funded through the television licence fee. 

That They May Face The Rising Sun, adapted from John McGahern’s novel about life in rural Ireland, won the top award for Best Film. Directed by Pat Collins, the film will be released in Irish cinemas next Friday and received funding from Round 38 of the Scheme.  

The George Morrison Feature Documentary Award went to The Days of Trees from director Alan Gilsenan and producer Tomás Hardiman, funded under Round 31 of the Scheme.  

Actress Siobhán Cullen was announced as the 2024 Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland Rising Star for her roles in Obituary and The Dry, both funded by Sound & Vision. 

The IFTA Awards are supported by Coimisiún na Meán through its Sponsorship Scheme. 

Under Article 22 of the Digital Services Act, Coimisiún na Meán may award the status of Trusted Flagger. Trusted Flaggers will work within designated areas of expertise to identify illegal content. Where a Trusted Flagger identifies illegal content, they may submit a notice to the relevant online platform. Online platforms will be legally obliged to give their notices priority, and to process and decide on these reports without undue delay.

Bodies such as non-governmental organisations, industry federations and trade associations, members of established fact-checkers networks, trade unions, non-regulatory public entities and private or semi-public bodies may become Trusted Flaggers.

To become a Trusted Flagger, an applicant body must:

• have expertise and competence for the purposes of detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content;
• be independent from any provider of online platforms;    
• carry out its activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately and objectively.

Coimisiún na Meán can now award Trusted Flagger status to organisations which meet the above conditions and is encouraging qualified entities to consider applying. We have recently published guidance and an application form on our website and any interested organisations are encouraged to read this guidance and to contact trustedflaggerapplications@cnam.ie with any questions that they might have.

• Article 22 Trusted Flaggers: Application Form and Guidance  

Safer Internet Day takes place every February to raise awareness of a safer and better internet for all, and especially for children and young people. 

February 6^th 2024 is the 21^st anniversary of Safer Internet Day, and the first Safer Internet Day since the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán and the appointment of Ireland’s first Online Safety Commissioner, Niamh Hodnett. This year, Coimisiún na Meán is supporting Webwise’s campaign on the theme of ‘Tech in our world’, exploring young people’s views on the role of technology in their lives, recent changes and tech developments and changes young people want to see. 

Online Safety Commissioner Niamh Hodnett said:  

“I am delighted to support this year’s Safer Internet Day, which is a great opportunity to reflect on the work being done around the world to create a safer online world, particularly for children. We at Coimisiún na Meán are ready to play our part through the implementation of our Online Safety Framework, as part of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network and with our counterparts in other Member States of the EU through the European Digital Services Board and the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media. Since I started my role in March last year, I have heard from a wide range of groups representing children and young people, including our own Youth Advisory Committee, and we look forward to making a positive impact for them.” 

Coimisiún na Meán is putting its Online Safety Framework into action in 2024. This will bring an end to the era of self-regulation and make online platforms accountable for how they keep their users, especially children, safe online.  Different pieces of legislation will come together to form this overall online safety framework: 

• The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, the basis for An Coimisiún’s Online Safety Code 
• The EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive 
• The EU Digital Services Act (fully applicable from February 17th 2024) 
• The EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation 

Coimisiún na Meán also continues to support Media Literacy Ireland and the Be Media Smart Campaign, to ensure that everyone in Ireland has the skills and confidence to access information online, to understand how digital services work and to manage the risks that people can face online. 

Safer Internet Day in Ireland is coordinated by the Irish Safer Internet Centre, a partnership between Webwise, ISPCC, National Parents Council Primary and Hotline.ie, providing a range of complementary online safety services, including an education and awareness centre, child and parent helplines and a hotline. The Centre is coordinated by the Department of Justice and co-funded by the European Union. 

As soon as Coimisiún na Meán became aware of the horiffic stabbing incident in Dublin last Thursday, we contacted large platforms to alert them to the incident and raise concerns about the spread of violent imagery and the incitement of hatred and violence online.

On Friday, along with the European Commission, we met with these platforms to get information on how they had responded to the incident. We have continued to speak to the platforms this week. The platforms have shared information about the speed and efficacy of their response, including some broad data on content removals.

The platforms indicated that they responded quickly to the spread of illegal content on their services. However we remain concerned about the spread of misinformation and disinformation online, and its real-world impacts. We expect the platforms to remain vigilant to any use of their service that could lead to hatred or violence and report any evidence of criminal activity to An Garda Síochána.

We remind people to be aware of the risks of disinformation and misinformation online, and to Stop, Think and Check before sharing content with others.

We are following up with the platforms to learn more about their policies and processes for dealing with disinformation and misinformation, so that once our powers are fully in place from February 17^th 2024, we can work effectively with the European Commission to keep people safe online.

ENDS