Media watchdog to investigate X over parental concerns

The media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has opened an investigation into Elon Musk's social media platform X amid concerns over its age assurance measures and parental controls.

It is the first formal investigation to be opened under Ireland's Online Safety Code which came into force in July 2025.

Coimisiún na Meán said that following reviews by its platform supervision team, concerns arose in relation to the potential ineffective implementation of age assurance mechanisms by X.

Under the Online Safety Code, age assurance is required on the X platform to ensure that children do not see videos depicting pornography, extreme and gratuitous violence, or acts of cruelty.

Separately, as the X platform allows adult-only content and also allows children under the age of 16 to use its service, it is required to provide parental control systems to ensure that parents and guardians have control over what type of content their children encounter.

"A concern exists that the parental controls put in place by X may not be effective, do not have minimum requirements, are hard to locate and are not brought to the attention of new users at sign-up stage, as required by the Code," Coimisiún na Meán said.

If X is found to be in breach of the Online Safety Code, it could be fined up to 10% of relevant annual turnover, or €20 million, whichever is greater.

The investigation will examine whether effective age assurance measures have been put in place by X.
Age assurance based solely on self-declaration is not considered effective.

The inquiry will also examine the parental controls that are in place, and whether X appropriately draws the attention of users to the systems that are available.

"Platforms which are accessible to children and allow adult-only video content, such as pornography or extreme and gratuitous violence or acts of cruelty, must ensure that this content cannot normally be accessed by children by implementing effective age assurance measures," said John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán.

"We have been clear that any age assurance measure based solely on self-declaration, is not sufficient," Mr Evans said.

"Platforms which allow users under the age of 16 must have parental controls which are under the control of parents and guardians, they must ensure that these parental controls are effective and easy to locate, and they must draw users attention to these parental controls at account sign-up stage, for any parent or guardian who wishes to use them," he added.

Coimisiún na Meán has opened five other investigations into platforms that are established in Ireland, within the last year, under the EU Digital Services Act.

An Coimisiún is also involved in four joint investigations which have been opened by the European Commission.

In July last year, X said it was introducing new age assurance measures in a bid to comply with Irish, UK and EU regulations.

At the time, the platform said the steps would include age assurance using existing signals such as previous age verification, legacy verified accounts, and account creation dates.

The company said where it did not have previous signals, it would look at things like user email addresses and social connections to estimate age.

X also said at the time that it was planning user involved age verification options including uploading a live selfie, or submitting a government-issued ID.