Children and young people face a “truly toxic online landscape” due to the mix of certain features of social media apps, algorithms and the ubiquity of smartphones, doctors have warned.
The Irish Medical Organisation, the largest representative body for doctors in the State, is calling on the Government to use its upcoming EU presidency to educate people on the risks young people are exposed to online and work to tighten regulation of the online world.
Prof Matthew Sadlier, vice-president and chair of the consultants’ committee of the medical organisation, said social media apps offer easy access to unconnected users, including children.
“We are living in an age of almost non-existent social media regulation, which has created a truly toxic online landscape. Not only can children and adults alike access at will the most malevolent and dangerous content, but certain social media apps by their design reward that behaviour by directing users towards ever more extreme content,” he said.
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He pointed to a number of recent convictions in Ireland and the UK in which offenders were convicted for child abuse directly related to online activity.
In February, Cork Criminal Circuit Court heard the case of 51-year-old convicted sex offender Anthony Quigley, who described Snapchat as a “safe haven for paedophiles” and sent a lewd message to a schoolgirl on the mobile messaging app within three hours of being released from prison.
“It is ironic that, having been marketed as useful, positive platforms to stay connected with friends and family, social media apps are exposing young people to a wide range of harms including addictive algorithms, sexual violence and gambling,” Sadlier added.
“The Government must act to safeguard people from this type of content by introducing far stricter online regulation. Anything less would be a dereliction of duty.”
At the end of last year, the Department of Health’s online safety taskforce, which was set up to consider the public health risk the internet can pose to children, published its final report.
The taskforce, chaired by children’s rights advocate Jillian van Turnhout, made 10 recommendations that, she said, “recognises both the significant benefits and serious risks of digital engagement”.
The recommendations included placing a greater responsibility on big tech companies for harmful but not illegal content served to children via social media algorithms and introducing legally binding age classifications for websites and apps, similar to age ratings that exist for films and television shows.
Following the publication of the report, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she will establish a group to examine implementation of the recommendations.
