Parents are “out of their depth” when it comes to policing what their children get up to online, Ciara Kelly has said. 

Meta’s Antigone Davis said that Irish parents need to do more to ensure their children are not viewing harmful content online. 

The company has recently launched accounts for teenagers, which allows parents to monitor what their children get up to, as well as filtering content they think is harmful. 

Ms Davis said the new accounts mean parents can now “decide whether they should be engaging here and set parameters” they believe are appropriate.

On Newstalk Breakfast, presenter Ciara Kelly said that the company seemed to have abdicated responsibility for the safety of children. 

 “Basically, what they’re saying is it’s the parents’ job to police their children online,” she said. 

“And to kind of get on with it and stop annoying us. 

“That would be fine if parents had the least ability to do it, if they were equipped to do it. 

“But this is like David and Goliath because you have a parent and it doesn’t matter how good a parent you are, [you’re] up against an algorithm that will bring little Johnny, if a 12 or 13 year old boy, to porn in about five minutes. 

“And bring little Mary, if she’s a 12 or 13 year old girl, to eating disorders and all sorts of things. 

“There’s so much harmful content and the algorithms are throwing it at our children. 

“Parents, frankly in my view, are out of their depth with this.” 

Children playing on a mobile phone. Picture by: Gregory Wrona / Alamy Stock Photo.

Co-presenter Jonathan Healy said it was important to acknowledge that Meta has implemented new policies in response to parental concerns. 

“But it’s just not going to work,” he predicted. 

“It is ignoring the obvious challenge here; great to protect our children – but the second they turn 18, they’re allowed to be brought to violent videos of Charlie Kirk’s death. 

“Or exposed to really nasty stuff about eating disorders or mental health or suicidal ideation.” 

Children texting on their phones in the back seat. Picture by: Tetra Images / Alamy Stock Photo.

Jonathan added that allowing young adults access to this content is a “massive abdication of responsibility dressed up as free speech”. 

“It goes back to the wild west that the entire internet is based on this idea of free speech, anyone can do anything they want, say anything they want,” he said. 

“These companies, particularly these international US companies, do not get it. 

“They do not get that they have a responsibility to protect the population – not just children. 

“It’s tokenism.”

Main image: Ciara Kelly in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk