Report from Euractiv
In Brief – The Irish High Court has rejected X’s legal challenge arguing that the Irish Online Safety Code should not apply to it because it conflicted with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) that regulates how digital platforms address illegal and objectionable online content. Ireland’s Online Safety Code, enforced by the country’s digital services regulator, directs video-sharing platforms such as X to implement age checks to restrict access to pornographic and violent content. X, which has its European headquarters in Ireland, but is primarily regulated under the DSA by the European Commission due to its designation as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP), claimed that the Irish video code was incompatible with obligations under the DSA, and the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). However, the Irish High Court ruled that the Irish code’s provisions on protecting minors online, such as requiring age checks, “are within the vires of the AVMSD… and are entirely complementary to the DSA and not in conflict with it.”
Context – The tidal wave of online verification is only accelerating. Like in Ireland, pornography is generally the first target, but calls to add social media often follow, such as in France, Great Britain, and the US. And X has porn on it, as did Twitter. Australia’s 16-year-old age limit for social media begins in December. That country will require age checks for search engines as well. The Irish court ruling also reinforces how dated is the perception that Ireland is an EU regulatory haven for digital businesses. Irish data security regulators were lambasted by privacy advocates for years for supposed business-friendly rulings under the GDPR’s One-Stop-Shop regime. Irish regulators were a big reason that method of streamlined regulatory compliance was largely jettisoned from subsequent EU digital laws, including the DSA, the DMA, and the AI Act, putting the Commission in the regulatory driver’s seat for the biggest platforms. But as we’re seeing with AI regulation, regulatory overlaps continue to crop up, reinforcing concerns with inconsistent and restrictive EU regulation that were given voice in last year’s Draghi Report.