Simon Harris calls for social media ban for under-16s

Ireland needs to prohibit the use of social media by those aged under 16, the Tanaiste has said.

Simon Harris said there had to be a “baring of teeth” and enforcement of the age of digital consent.

The Data Protection Act 2018 set the age of digital consent at 16.

This means online service providers like social media platforms, which rely on consent as the legal basis for processing personal data, must obtain the consent of the child’s parents.

Speaking on Virgin Media One’s Ireland AM, Mr Harris said: “The era of self-regulation is now over. There are now laws. There are now fines that can be levied.

“The European Commission this week has now opened an investigation into (AI tool) Grok.

“We need to actually see kind of a bit of baring of teeth here – there are actually laws, and they [social media companies] can’t be above the law.

“This can’t be the wild west anymore.”

He added: “I think we’re going to have to go further in this country though. We have a digital age of consent, that’s 16.

“We have to start actually enforcing that, and there’s good work being done on that.

“We’re going to start by March asking social media companies – and some of them are up for this, by the way – to take part in the rollout of age verification.

“But quite frankly, I believe we need to get to a point where if you’re under the age of 16, you can’t be on social media.”