Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2024-04-30
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Thomas Pringle (IND), Donegal

I thank the Taoiseach for his answer. The one thing we can do is to target the algorithms the companies use. Putting age profiles and barriers on accounts is grand but the algorithms are the problem and they are what we should be targeting. If we were serious about protecting young people, that is what we would be doing.
In his response, the Taoiseach mentioned the ban against harmful content and the online safety code. How many prosecutions have taken place under those at this stage? It would be interesting to see how they are actually happening, how they are performing and if they are performing. It is plain to be seen that although the companies' headquarters are all based in Ireland and they have data centres here, they use algorithms to target young people. We can act to make it happen.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:53+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-04-30