Mary Regan: Despite all the talk, the Coalition has ducked a social media ban for under-16s

"Move to EU age verification system has watered down promises made"

"It's been 10 months since Simon Harris announced his intention to ban social media for children under the age of 16, declaring a "ticking time bomb" in relation to young people."

"The Fine Gael leader said "the era of self-regulation is over" for tech companies and told the Dáil he wanted all parties to work together towards formulating an under-16 ban on sites like Snapchat, TikTok and X."

Simon Harris announced a plan to ban social media access for children under 16, calling the situation a "ticking time bomb" for young people. He declared the era of self-regulation over for tech companies and sought cross-party cooperation to formulate a ban on platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok and X. A subsequent move toward adopting an EU age verification system has diluted the original promise of an outright under-16 ban. The change shifts policy emphasis from a full prohibition to verification mechanisms that allow continued platform access under age-check systems.

Read at Independent