Belong To – LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland Statement on the Coimisiún na Meán Online Safety Code 

We welcome the Online Safety Code published by Coimisiún na Meán this week. Protecting young people online is a priority for us at Belong To, and should be a priority for all with a role to play from tech companies to our public representatives.

This new code represents a step forward in addressing online harm to LGBTQ+ and all young people. But time will tell about its effectiveness, particularly in terms of the influence on tech companies to respond to complaints from young people about content on their platforms.

For LGBTQ+ young people, online spaces are places to find community, learn more about themselves and have fun. But, online platforms are not always a safe place for LGBTQ+ young people, with the spread of harmful content, misinformation and anti-LGBTQ+ content.

We know from our own research that 54% of young people do not feel safe online and 40% feel they need help in feeling safer online.  

We hope that this code will help to address the systemic issues and rising hate online, in order to help protect young people in online spaces, and would encourage reviews of the Code and its implementation in the coming years to ensure its effectiveness in achieving that goal.