Ireland 'seriously considers' social media ban for Under-16's amid heated debate

Should children under the age of 16 years old be banned from using social media platforms?

That is the question on everyone's mind as Tánaiste Simon Harris says the movement is being 'seriously considered'.

Australia has implemented a ban on social media for children under the age of 16 under a "new law called the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 on 28 November 2024," according to Unicef Australia.

The law was made, according to Unicef, because the Australian Government believe the risks of social media, such as cyberbullying, harmful content, and online predators, outweigh the positives. 

Alex Cooney, CEO of Cyber Safe Kids was recently on NewsTalk to discuss this issue, and said that while this movement "sounds like the real solution", she said "I think we need to unpack it."

Alex told NewsTalk that the ban in Australia doesn't include WhatsApp, Youtube, TikTok or any gaming environments.

"Roblox at the moment is the most popular environment for children age eight to twelve," she said, "so the problem with the legislation is that it's not even going to cover all the areas that children go."

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Alex said that WhatsApp is "an unregulated environment" that is not included in legislation although "we know that 40% of children age eight to twelve have a WhatsApp account."

"So I think we need to look at addressing harm," Alex said, "We still leave a lot of power in the hands of these tech companies and they are making these enormous profits..so we need those profits to be invested in real, genuine measures for safe online environments for children."

"These environments weren't designed for children," Alex told NewsTalk, "They are vastly inadequate for their needs..we need children's safety to be at the centre of design consideration, alongside privacy and other key considerations."

Alex said that rather than banning children from social media platforms, companies should "actually try and address these places to make them much safer and much more plausible for children and young people to be online."

A large discussion has formed on social media around this topic as Irish parents share their take on the matter.

One user said, "The same folks who couldn’t build a children’s hospital on budget or a €350,000 bike shed now think they can pull this off? It’s honestly mind-blowing how out of touch they are!".

Another person said, "I think it's a good idea," and "absolutely."

Someone else commented, "Ultimately, the parents get to decide, not the gov!".