The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 (OSMR) is currently making its way through the houses of the Oireachtas. It is a long-awaited piece of legislation that will do much to reduce the exposure of children to harmful online content. Alcohol Action Ireland in particular is interested in ensuring that children are protected from digital alcohol advertising and the insidious practices of tracking, profiling and targeting young people to market harmful and addictive products. 

Unfortunately, in this area, the Bill falls short in protecting children from what global children’s rights experts call exploitive marketing of unhealthy commodities and “an important threat to children’s health and futures”.  Advertising restrictions of alcohol have been assessed as highly cost-effective because they can influence the initiation of alcohol use and risk behaviour at the population level....