Social platforms like YouTube and Facebook stand to be fined at most 10 percent of the revenue they make in Ireland if they fail to follow harmful content regulations under the serious financial sanctions in the government’s online safety and media bill.
The bill’s final schematic is purposed to tackle the amplification and spread of criminal material online, including cyberbullying, and material that promotes issues like eating disorders, suicide, and various forms of self-harm. The high level of fine for not complying is 10 percent of overall turnover, equivalent to €20 million. However, this value is even higher for more prominent companies, translating to billions.
Also, video-on-demand platforms in Ireland, including Apple TV+, must ensure 30 percent of their content features European works, including content originating in the U.K.
This quota will be facilitated by the EU’s revised audio and visual media guidelines and other applicable measures introduced in other member countries. This implies that video-on-demand firms are also likely to be subjected to the same quota system.
This bill will alter the new directive, essentially translating it into Irish law, and will require all video-on-demand service providers in the country to sign up with all rules prescribed by the media commission.
The bill also prescribes a content levy to apply to all overseas video-on-demand firms looking to engage the Irish people. In the meantime, the country’s Department of Arts, Culture, Sports, and Media is working on a modality on how this would be applied and whether its benefits outweigh the demerits.