A NEW ONLINE safety monitor has been launched to evaluate existing protections for children, as calls increase for social media platforms to comply with regulations.

The monitor, run by the Children’s Rights Alliance, will work to provide recommendations to Government on issues concerning online safety among young people.

It aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of children’s digital rights while making recommendations to Government and the EU with a view to cracking down heavily on the production and distribution of child sex abuse material.

The group has several key demands for Government to ensure a safe virtual space for children. Included in the demands is a call for the establishment of a public complaints mechanism where children’s complaints are prioritised.

It is also calling for increased oversight to ensure social media platforms adhere to the EU’s Digital Services Act for protecting children, and insists Government enacts legal reform to combat the online proliferation of material relating to child sex abuse.

Noeline Blackwell, Online Safety Coordinator with the Alliance thinks children are extremely vulnerable to online predators in the vast expanses of the online world.

“If laws and regulations fail to keep pace with the digital world, it is children and young people who pay the price,” she said.

“Failing to have adequate protections online creates space for predators to hide.”

Blackwell says current online safety codes fail to oblige social media platforms to adhere to laws other than their own self-regulation, adding that the codes do not prevent algorithms from feeding harmful content to children.

She claims there is no longer sufficient trust in social media giants to self-regulate in order to prevent abuses taking place on their platforms, and that the Government must step up with stringent regulation.

“In Ireland, there is huge public appetite for the Government to stand up to big tech and they have made a start,” she said.

She says online predators “hide behind” legal blind spots enabling them to carry out insidious acts against children, giving rise to anxiety, depression and PTSD among children as they grow.
Hotline.ie, a website that hears anonymous reports from members of the public concerned about illegal content online, reported that it received 29,000 complaints about material of a child sexual abuse nature in 2023.

The body says its complaints have been increasing steadily since 2020, a fact Blackwell bemoans as the social media industry continues to record high profits.