The government of Ireland has been advised to consider “enhanced online protections” for children and teenagers to stop engagements with “health harming products, content and services”.
Recommendations have been made by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) via its report titled: “Digital marketing of health-harming products to children in Ireland – options for further protections”.
Research and insights were provided by Online Health Taskforce (OHT), an expert committee which supports policies to improve Ireland’s “public health response to harms caused to children and young people by certain types of online activities”.
Publishing the report, Dr Helen McAvoy, Director of Policy at the IPH, warned that current safeguards are failing to keep pace with digital marketing practices.
“Our digital spaces are saturated with content selling, marketing and promoting potentially health-harming products, including tobacco and e-cigarettes, alcohol, sunbeds, gambling and foods and drinks that contribute to a poor diet,” McAvoy said.
“While children actively use digital platforms, they are not adequately protected from exposure to these products online.”
Four-pillars of protection
The report advises the Irish government to adopt a four-pillar framework to strengthen protections for children and young people in online environments, arguing that existing measures have not kept pace with the scale and complexity of data-driven digital marketing.
It calls for “stronger political and policy leadership”, urging the Dáil and Oireachtas to establish a clear, coordinated and adaptive national framework that places children’s health and rights at the centre of digital regulation.
The report stresses that reliance on industry codes, voluntary standards and self-regulation is insufficient, given the commercial incentives that drive the online promotion of health-harming products to under-18s.
The second pillar focuses on a “reform of legislative and enforcement mechanisms”, with the government encouraged to strengthen existing laws and regulatory powers to address gaps in oversight of online marketing and behavioural targeting.
Actions include commissioning expert advice on measures to restrict data collection, profiling and targeted advertising practices, particularly in relation to children’s online accounts.
A third pillar centres on “improved age-assurance and verification,” with the IPH and OHT warning that existing systems remain fragmented, inconsistent and easily circumvented by young people.
The report recommends prioritising robust, privacy-preserving age-verification controls, particularly for under-18s accessing adult-only platforms and content linked to gambling, alcohol, pornography and other restricted products.
Finally, the report highlights the need for enhanced monitoring, transparency and accountability, calling for stronger systems to track children’s exposure to digital marketing and assess platform compliance.
This would involve expanded transparency requirements, greater regulatory scrutiny and increased capacity for authorities to intervene where commercial practices undermine children’s health, safety and well-being.
Targeted actions on online gambling
The report identifies online gambling as a priority area requiring targeted intervention, warning that children and young people are routinely exposed to betting content through digital marketing, platform design and indirect promotion, despite long-standing age restrictions.
Its publication comes as the Irish government continues to implement the Gambling Regulation Bill 2024, in effect since 2025, which replaces centuries-old gambling legislation and establishes a modern regulatory and supervisory framework for the sector.
While the reforms mark a significant reset of gambling oversight, the OHT cautions that post-regulation focus must extend beyond licensing and enforcement to address youth exposure risks embedded within digital ecosystems.
The IPH and Taskforce warn that children’s engagement with gambling increasingly occurs outside of direct betting activity, through exposure to gambling-adjacent content and narratives.
Liabilities include watching betting-related videos, following tipsters or gambling influencers, exposure to odds, bonuses and “betting as entertainment” messaging, and interaction with gambling-like mechanics within games and apps. The Taskforce warns that such exposure can normalise gambling behaviours long before legal age thresholds are reached.
As a result, the report urges the government to restrict the digital marketing of gambling to under-18s, noting that existing advertising rules do not sufficiently address data-driven targeting, influencer activity or algorithmic amplification.
It recommends that gambling advertising, sponsorship and promotional content should not be served, recommended or amplified to children’s accounts, whether directly or indirectly through shared devices, inferred data profiles or recommender systems.
The IPH and OHT also call for stronger limits on data harvesting and behavioural profiling by gambling operators and their marketing partners, recommending that children’s online data should not be used to infer gambling-related interests or to construct future consumer profiles that could be activated once age thresholds are crossed.
The report further stresses the need for robust enforcement of age-verification requirements, alongside monitoring tools that enable regulators to track children’s exposure to betting content across social media, video platforms and influencer ecosystems.
Ireland can lead EU on online youth protections
The report is published amid intensifying political pressure around gambling advertising in Ireland. This weekend, Ivana Bacik, leader of the Labour Party, renewed calls for the blanket ban of gambling advertising in the Republic, arguing that ministers have a duty to protect the estimated 3% of Irish adults classified as high-risk problem gamblers.
Labour has warned that Ireland should not follow the UK’s path by allowing gambling advertising to become embedded across sport, media and digital platforms.
Against this backdrop, the report concludes by urging the government to recognise that youth online protection and digital safety are international challenges, requiring coordinated regulatory leadership rather than fragmented national approaches.
The report further argues that Ireland is well positioned to shape that agenda as it assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2026, with an opportunity to influence the rollout of the forthcoming EU Digital Fairness Act.
As the report concludes: “Ireland has an opportunity not only to strengthen protections for children at home, but to help shape a safer, fairer and healthier digital environment across Europe.”
The message was echoed by Minister for Mental Health and Government Chief Whip Mary Butler TD, who said: “Reducing technology-related harm to young people’s wellbeing is a critical issue for government. I welcome the recommendations from the Online Health Taskforce, which are grounded in evidence and the lived experiences and voices of young people themselves.
“These recommendations place more of the regulatory responsibility on platforms, rather than expecting young people to regulate themselves in the face of algorithms designed to capture their attention.”
