Social media faces new EU rules on harmful content

DUBLIN – Dublin published binding rules to protect EU users of video-sharing platforms from harmful content, promising to hold companies to account and end the “Wild West” of self-regulation.
The Online Safety Code, applicable from next month, would bring “an end to the era of social media self-regulation”, said Ireland’s Online Safety Commissioner, Niamh Hodnett.
The finalised code — formally adopted following consultation with the European Commission — will apply to platforms with their EU headquarters in Ireland.
It requires that the platforms “protect people, especially children, from harmful video and associated content”.
It will prohibit the uploading or sharing of child sexual abuse and content that incites violence and racism.
The platforms will have a responsibility to stamp out cyber-bullying and to ensure that there are ways for people to report content that breaks the rules.
The code also requires platforms to implement the use of age verification measures to prevent children from encountering pornography or violence.
Companies breaching the rules face fines of up to 20 million euros or 10 percent of a platform’s annual turnover, whichever is greater.
The obligations will apply from next month, although platforms will have up to nine months to update IT systems.
“We will work to make sure that people know their rights when they go online and we will hold the platforms to account and take action when platforms don’t live up to their obligations,” Hodnett said.
Ireland’s media regulator in January designated 10 services as video-sharing platform services: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Udemy, TikTok, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit.
The code will be applied to nine of the 10 platforms, with Reddit having won the right to appeal against being designated.
A TikTok spokesperson said it welcome the introduction of the new code, which Ireland’s digital services commissioner John Evans called a “significant milestone”.
Hodnett told a news conference in the Irish capital that there needed to be a “step change” in the way platforms are operating.
“We want to see clear evidence of behavioural change,” she said, adding: “For too long, people have felt that the online world is the Wild West or that there are no effective measures in place.
“Today marks the end of the era of self-regulation. There is now an effective statutory regime in place, so we will be overseeing the platforms to ensure that they are complying with those obligations and we can hold them to account when they don’t.”