"Swift and coordinated action"

AI-Minister Niamh Smyth demands policy changes from X-administration in meeting with the social media platform

“Swift and coordinated action.” These were the demands of Niamh Smyth, Minister for AI and Digital Transformation in response to the serious concers about AI-generated harmful content on X, including non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material.

She urged Coimisiún na Meán to engage with the EU Commission and to launch a formal investigation and interim measures to protect citizens across all 27 member states. “The protection of the most vulnerable cannot wait,” she said. The EU Commission had taken investigative steps in relation to X and its obligations under the DSA, and would carefully assess the changes to Grok that X had announced, to ensure they effectively protected citizens in the EU.

On Friday, Niamh Smyth met with the X administration in their Dublin headquarters. (The Celt will update on the outcome of this meeting)

Prior to this, the Minister sought clarity from the Attorney General on what constituted illegal content under Irish and EU law. “Following this meeting I am confident that we have robust and effective legislation in place. Under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998, material depicting a person as a child engaged in real or simulated explicit activity, or focused for sexual purpose on genital areas, is illegal,” the Minister emphasised. “Coco’s Law criminalises sharing non consensual intimate images with intent to cause harm. The sharing of non consensual intimate images and any child sexual abuse material is illegal.”

Anyone concerned about images shared online, was urged to report it to An Garda Síochána and the Irish national reporting centre, Hotline.ie. Niamh Smyth also encouraged users to report illegal content to the online platform where they encountered it and report it Coimisiún na Meán.

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