Ireland is named and shamed as one of five countries that have not ratified it.
Ireland has been warned by the European Commission for not yet ratifying EU rules against online terrorist content.
The city of Brussels announced on Wednesday that Ireland is one of five countries yet to comply with EU law set up to combat the spread of terrorist content on social media networks and other online platforms.
The announcement comes amid continuing concerns about propaganda related to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The warning came after the European Commission announced it would investigate whether Company X, formerly known as Twitter, breached EU law by allowing illegal terrorist content online.
The warning was sent to Ireland for “failing to comply with certain obligations of the Regulation on the Spread of Terrorist Content Online”, and the government has two days left to either resolve the issue or take legal action in the European Court of Justice. A grace period of one month has been given.
Under the Terrorist Content Online Regulations, Ireland must appoint a body or authority to police and deal with terrorist content online.
In 2022, the government has indicated that it intends to appoint the recently established Coimiciun as an averager to take responsibility for this issue.
Online Safety Commissioner Niamh Hodnett, member for Coimisiun and Mean, has recently been active on social media platforms in tackling the spread of harmful content around the November Dublin riots.
In its warning to Ireland, the commission said: “Hosting service providers must remove terrorist content within one hour of receiving a takedown order from the authorities of a member state, and if their platform is exposed to terrorist content. We must take measures.”
This is the second time in two years that the city of Brussels has singled out and shamed Ireland for not ratifying the regulations, which came into force in June 2022.