IRELAND’S MEDIA WATCHDOG has launched an investigation over concerns that children can access pornography and violent videos on Elon Musk’s social media platform X.

It’s the first formal investigation that has been launched by Coimisiún na Meán under Ireland’s Online Safety Code.

In a statement, Coimisiún na Meán said its platform supervision team raised concerns in relation to the “potential ineffective implementation of age assurance mechanisms by X”.

Under the Online Safety Code, age assurance is required on the X platform to ensure that children do not see videos depicting pornography, extreme and gratuitous violence, or acts of cruelty on the platform.

Coimisiún na Meán said there are also “concerns” that the parental controls put in place by X may not be effective, do not have minimum requirements, are hard to locate and are not brought to the attention of new users at sign-up stage, as required by the Code.

As the X platform allows adult-only content and also allows children under the age of 16 to use its service, it is required by the Online Safety Code to provide parental control systems to ensure that parents and guardians have control over what type of content their children encounter.

The investigation will examine whether there are effective age assurance measures in place by X to ensure that adult-only video content cannot normally be seen by children.

Coimisiún na Meán noted that age assurance which is based solely on self-declaration is not considered effective.

The investigation will also consider whether the parental control systems put in place by X have the minimum functions required under the Code, and whether X appropriately draws the attention of users to the parental control systems they make available.

The investigation will also examine whether X ensures that its parental control systems are provided as an option to new users on account sign-up.

John Evans, digital services commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán, said children have a “fundamental right to participate in society, which includes the digital world, and to be protected from harm, abuse and exploitation online”.

He added that Ireland’s Online Safety Code focused on “protecting children from illegal and harmful content online and ensuring that parents and guardians had stronger methods to shape their children’s online experiences”.

Evans remarked that platforms which are accessible to children and allow adult-only video content must “ensure that this content cannot normally be accessed by children by implementing effective age assurance measures”.

He noted that this marks Coimisiún na Meán’s first investigation under the Online Safety Code.

If a platform is found in violation of the Online Safety Code, Coimisiún na Meán can apply an administrative financial sanction, including a fine of up to 10% of relevant annual turnover, or €20 million, whichever is greater.

Other investigations

Meanwhile, in addition to today’s investigation into X, An Coimisiún has also opened five other investigations into platforms that are established in Ireland under the EU Digital Services Act.

These investigations have been opened into X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

This separate investigation into X is in relation to the rights of users to appeal content moderation decisions relating to Terms and Conditions.

The investigations into TikTok and LinkedIn are in relation to the platforms illegal content reporting mechanisms.

Meanwhile, the investigations into Facebook and Instagram are in relation to “dark patterns and the ability of users to choose a recommender system not based on profiling”.

Coimisiún na Meán is also involved in four joint investigations which have been opened by the European Commission.

This includes two joint investigations into TikTok, one of which in respect of suspected non-compliance related to the protection of minors, and the other in relation to suspected systemic risks to election integrity in the context of the Romanian presidential elections.

Another joint investigation relates to X and “suspected systemic risks in respect of its deployment of Grok”.

The fourth joint investigation with the European Commission is into Shein and in relation to suspected non-compliance on the sale of illegal products, addictive design and recommender system transparency.