Ireland's Coimisiún na Meán Issues Draft Online Safety Code with Child Risk Assessment Requirements

Ireland's media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, has published draft online safety codes requiring video-sharing platforms and hosting services to conduct child-specific risk assessments and implement measures to protect minors from harmful content, including CSAM, grooming, cyberbullying and self-harm material. The codes, issued under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, require platforms to assess how their design, algorithms and functionalities may expose children to harm, and to deploy age-appropriate safeguards. Public consultation on the draft closed on September 20, with final codes expected later this year.

Risk assessment obligations are satisfied not by policy statements but by operational systems that detect harm as it occurs. Guardii's detection modules for grooming, sextortion, CSAM, cyberbullying and self-harm identify threat patterns in direct-message conversations in real time, surfacing a child in acute distress or under hostile contact to parents, schools or safeguarding professionals. This capability provides platforms and institutions with the evidence base required to demonstrate compliance with risk-mitigation duties, addressing the specific harms named in the Irish codes at the point of contact rather than after escalation.