The Government is expecting pressure from foreign direct investment (FDI) firms over any move to strengthen liability for senior tech executives.
The Irish Times understands the Coalition has sought advice on strengthening laws that make senior executives liable for noncompliance with online safety measures.
However, it is expected that Ministers will be warned of a likely backlash to any such move from firms who are also big employers here.
With increasing focus on online safety, Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan is to brief Cabinet this week on progress made on online safety. This includes a plan to introduce an age-verification tool piloted through a so-called digital wallet early next year.
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It is understood Mr O’Donovan’s department also sought legal advice on strengthening the liability of senior managers when noncompliance with online safety regulation occurs on a platform. Ministers will be warned that big digital FDI firms would probably be hostile to any such move.
Sources said the advice received is not conclusive and the area of law is extremely complicated, meaning more consideration will be required.
Ireland already has laws that mean senior executives can be prosecuted for criminal liability in instances of online safety failings – but experts say the laws are “turgid”.
Ronan Lupton SC, a barrister specialising in media and commercial law, said that “currently, provisions of the recently amended Broadcasting Act 2009 apply concerning senior executive criminal liability”.
However, he added: “Those provisions are widely regarded as being turgid and extremely difficult to establish individual or secondary executive liability in order to successfully prosecute.”
Government figures have indicated they are determined to act. One Coalition source said: “The era of platforms shrugging their shoulders and blaming the algorithm is over.”
The source said the Coalition wanted to examine executive liability and the consequences for recommender systems, which filter and send content to users and have been criticised as harmful. They indicated that consideration would be given to strengthening powers underpinned by the Digital Services Act, online safety and media regulation laws, and ‘Coco’s Law’, which prohibits the sharing or threat to share intimate images.
Any move to tighten regulation would probably bring focus on Ireland’s role as an FDI hub and on tech companies that are big employers here.
Asked last week about potential moves to restrict social media for under-16s, Tánaiste Simon Harris said such firms come to Ireland for the workforce and access to the European market, and that the State is a good place to do business.
“Alongside that, of course, the Government has obligations when it comes to child protection, and there are real concerns from parents in Ireland – and not just in Ireland – about child safety on the internet.”
It is understood the Attorney General has told the Government that the grounds in Irish law are thin for implementing a minimum age for accessing social media platforms.
Without a clear basis to legislate domestically for this, the Department of Communications indicated last week that its preference was for a decision to be taken by the EU and member states together.
There is increased focus on this area. Instagram and Facebook has started shutting down children’s accounts in Australia as the first age-based social media ban in the world comes into effect there on December 10th. The move in Australia involves a strict social media ban for children under the age of 16.
Mr O’Donovan said last week that he and his department met representatives of the Australian government in recent weeks to discuss its ban.
Mr O’Donovan said “in an ideal world”, it would be better for the European Union to act in unison on the issue of online child safety, but the EU was a “gigantic organisation” that “moves slowly”.
