Image: © nmann77/Stock.adobe.com
Ireland is also required to pay the EU court a daily penalty of €10,000 from today until the day that it ‘puts an end’ to the infringement.
The European Court of Justice has imposed a €2.5m fine on Ireland for failing to fulfil certain obligations around the adoption of an EU directive aimed at online safety.
In a ruling today (29 February), the court said that Ireland failed to transpose an EU directive concerning the provision of audiovisual media services into national law in time.
“By failing to adopt, by the time the court examined the facts, the provisions necessary to transpose into its national law the provisions of Directive 2018/1808 and, therefore, failing to notify those measures to the Commission, Ireland persisted in its failure to fulfil its obligations,” the ruling reads.
As well as a lump sum fine of €2.5m, Ireland is also required to pay a daily penalty of €10,000 from today until the day that it “puts an end” to the infringement.
Ireland’s new media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, has been working on a draft online safety code, which was shared with the public for feedback in December. However, the code is not expected to be ready until later this year.
The body was set up in March last year in place of the now-disbanded Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. A key difference to its predecessor is the added focus on online media.
Last month, Coimisiún na Meán named 10 platforms as video-sharing platform services on its radar that will have to follow the online safety code to keep people – particularly children – when availing of their services.
These video-sharing platforms are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Udemy, TikTok, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit.
The designation of the 10 platforms bears similarities to how the DSA listed multiple online services as very large online platforms – which face specific rules under the EU legislation.
The finalised code will form part of Ireland’s overall online safety framework, which will make a range of online services legally accountable for how they keep people safe online, and include the EU Digital Services Act and the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation.
Last November, Coimisiún na Meán said it was in contact with multiple social media platforms after they were used by people to organise violent riots in Dublin.
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
