Government ‘failing our children’ as calls grow for action on social media harms

A new report from CyberSafeKids shows that measures to stop young people from accessing online platforms have little impact, with politicians calling on government to put stricter steps in place to protect children

Add to preferred sources News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 16:32, 02 Sep 2026 View Image Teenager sitting on sofa and looking at smartphone screen.

Government inaction is “failing our children” as calls ramp up to address “the very real harm” caused by under-12s accessing online and social media virtual spaces .

Responding to the findings of a new report issued today by CyberSafeKids, Green Party Spokesperson on Media Councillor Hazel Chu has called on the Government to use a forthcoming hosting of an online safety forum to address these issues. “There’s an irony to Ireland being about to host Europe’s Online Safety For Children in the coming weeks while the evidence today at home tells us that little has changed,” she stated.

The CyberSafeKids 10th annual report reveals that measures to keep young people from accessing online platforms are failing and have little impact on the number of underage children signing up to accounts. The findings show that 70% of children aged eight to 12 have accounts on social media platforms designed for those 13 or older.

“The evidence is very clear from CyberSafeKids, Children’s Rights Alliance and other working groups, that there is a very real harm placed on our kids caused by online and social media and that the current Government response is less than adequate,” Cllr Chu stated.

The report further outlines that more than one in four children surveyed reported encountering content or unsolicited contact that bothered them, including violence, sexual material and dangerous ideas. “Lack of regulation sees us now in a space where high profile abuse cases like Epstein can be turned into an online game and encouraged to children via social media feed,” Cllr Chu said.

“We saw from the M9 tragedy people are dying while algorithms turn dangerous behaviour into entertainment. We keep treating every new tragedy or scandal as an isolated incident. It is not.

“Whether it is harmful content reaching children or dangerous behaviour being amplified for clicks, we have a fundamental problem with platforms and algorithms that prioritise engagement over safety”

This highlights a need for the Government to move beyond “simply asking children to enter their date of birth” or placing “responsibility on parents to police platforms designed by some of the wealthiest companies in the world,” Cllr Chu stated. She has called for the onus of responsibility to be put “on the ones profiting”.

“Children should not be placed on an endless algorithmic conveyor belt designed to keep them scrolling. We need to switch off auto recommender systems for children and stop platforms profiling young people in order to decide what content to push in front of them next.”

Calls for government to take responsibility on this issue were echoed by People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy TD who aims to introduce a new online safety bill that will require social media platforms to turn off recommender algorithms for under 18s. A similar bill put forward by Deputy Murphy was defeated by the Government in March.

“It was entirely predictable, and it was widely predicted that this ban would fail. The reality is that it was designed to fail by a government that has been ‘captured’ by social media corporations,” he said.

“It was an act of a government trying to create the illusion of action in response to overwhelming public opinion, but in reality intended to have no meaningful effect on the activities and profits of the social media corporations. It is a despicable failure by design from a craven government.

“Toxic social media algorithms continue to drive an epidemic of mental health problems among young people, with anxiety, self harm, eating disorders and online addiction spiralling.

“An Ireland Thinks poll in October found that 68% of people across Ireland want social media recommender algorithms to be switched off by default, so users only see posts from people and topics they choose. The poll also found that 74% of respondents were concerned about harmful content targeting children.”

Deputy Murphy said there is clear evidence that the public support action to “protect children and to stop toxic social media algorithms”. He said that his Online Safety (Recommender Algorithms) Bill 2026 would require social media companies to turn off recommender algorithms for those under 18.

“It would also have ensured that recommender algorithms based on profiling or sensitive personal data have to be actively turned on by adult users. But in March, the Government put the interests of social media corporations before the safety of children and the health and welfare of the public, and my Bill was defeated by 80 votes to 63.

“This wilful endangerment of children cannot be tolerated, so in the new Dáil term I intend to bring forward a similar Bill that will put the health and safety of children before the profits of social media corporations.

“The Government must stop doing the bidding of social media corporations and must finally do the right thing to protect children from harmful content."

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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