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]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, will tomorrow (Tuesday, 20 October) appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to outline alcohol’s role in unprovoked (one-punch) assaults and the proven measures that are available to reduce such incidences.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Alcohol, crime and violence have a closely interconnected relationship. Alcohol plays a key role in crimes such as public order offences, domestic violence, assault and murder, as well as rape and sexual assault.
“While alcohol use is neither necessary nor sufficient for violence to occur, many studies have demonstrated significant, and positive, associations between alcohol consumption and rates of criminal violence, and we can say with confidence that more drinking tends to result in more violence, and less drinking tends to result in less violence.
“Indeed, laboratory studies have shown that alcohol increases aggression. For example, alcohol increases the willingness with which individuals will administer electric shocks to others. Such research is important when analysing the nature of unprovoked, one-punch assaults, especially late at night.
“Unfortunately, there is an absence of consistent data collection around such assaults in Ireland. However, Australia has collated excellent systematic data sets over a number of years finding that alcohol is involved in around 80% of such assaults which predominantly involve young men. Interestingly, despite assertions from the alcohol industry that many assaults in Australia were linked to illegal ‘party’ drugs, most cases reviewed involved solely alcohol.
“In this context it is important to consider Ireland’s overall high level of alcohol consumption, rising youth drinking rates up 12% in the past decade and highly concerning levels of heavy episodic drinking, particularly among young men – with two thirds of 15-24-year-olds being classified as hazardous drinkers.”
AAI’s written submission to the Committee sets out the national and international evidence on alcohol use and violence, and key steps to tackling it are outlined, including:
Dr Gilheany continued: “Availability of alcohol is one of the main determinants of alcohol use and alcohol-related harm, and the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies restrictions on availability as among the most effective and cost-effective measures to reduce that harm.
“However, in Ireland alcohol is very widely available with three quarters of the population living within 300 metres of an alcohol outlet. Even with the well-flagged recent rural pub closures, Ireland has the third highest level of pubs per capita in the world with one pub for every 684 adults nationally with rural counties having an even greater density – for example there’s a pub for every 330 people in Kerry.
“International and Irish evidence consistently shows that increasing trading hours and density of licensed premises leads to more alcohol-related crime, violence and public disorder, while reducing late-night trading lowers rates of violence. It is of note that after licensing hours in Ireland on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays were extended in 2000, a near 17% increase in alcohol-related crime was recorded.
“More recently, comprehensive Australian research found restrictions on alcohol trading hours to be successful in reducing violence outside pubs and nightclubs by 37%. In Scotland, 38 bars/clubs in Aberdeen had trading hours extended up to 3am leading to an increase of 11% in ambulance call-outs, and 8% in reported crimes.
“Yet, addressing alcohol use remains an underutilised strategy in the violence prevention field; indeed, relatively few prevention efforts intentionally address alcohol use or draw on effective strategies from the alcohol field. This is especially true of unprovoked assaults. However, national and international evidence on alcohol use and violence all points to how action on availability, affordability and advertising can reduce the frequency and severity of violence on our streets and in the home.”
ENDS
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]]>The post Press release: New AAI report on alcohol harm in the home a real wake-up call for Irish society – Ombudsman for Children appeared first on Alcohol Action Ireland.
]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, is proud to announce the official launch of its latest report, Childhood, interrupted – Parental problem alcohol use and its harms to children, at Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2, tomorrow (Wednesday, 14 October) at 11am.
Joining AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany in the discussion will be:
The report, which is published as part of AAI’s Silent Voices initiative and features a foreword by Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, explores the impact of parental problem alcohol use (PPAU) on the physical and mental health of families, partners, and children, and how these harms can last a lifetime. National and international research is collated and it also includes evidence from the frontline including data from MOVE Ireland, ISPCC and the Canal Communities study of Hidden Harm, along with testimony from a Childline Therapeutic Support Worker and a case study of a Childline caller.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “PPAU is a significant and long-recognised Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), with often lifelong implications for the physical and mental health of victims. In Ireland, Health Research Board data indicates that a third of children have a parent who is either a regular binge drinker or is dependent on alcohol. While a HSE survey has found that at least one in six children – that’s more than 200,000 children – have been harmed by PPAU. In many incidences alcohol use is the catalyst to significant domestic disruption and abuse.
“Research further indicates that 1 in 4 Irish people may have grown up in the presence of problematic alcohol use. Including partners of those drinking at problematic levels, this suggests that it is likely more than 1.5 million people across the state are, or have been, affected by alcohol harm in the home.
“The outworking of this is both immediate and lasting harm as PPAU is strongly linked to neglect, abuse, mental and physical health difficulties, family breakdown, and alcohol-fuelled violence.
“While the impact of PPAU has been published in various studies, very little is known about the lives and experiences of children affected by the issue from their own perspectives. Denial and secrecy are hallmarks of this issue, and children’s voices too often go unheard. Using accounts given through the initiative’s Shared Voices online platform, this report both illustrates the research data and gives a voice to the child throughout – from the childhood perspective of living with PPAU, to the impact in later life on the adult child.”
Tomorrow’s event forms part of End the Silence 2026. End the Silence is an annual series of events to raise awareness of the issues arising from growing up with alcohol harm in the home.
Dr Gilheany continued: “This report looks to tackle PPAU and its harms to children in the only way possible: to identify it, talk about it, and to demand services and support to those affected – especially children.
“It also looks at how government can limit its frequency by reducing alcohol consumption at a population level. This, however, will take a coordinated, whole-of-government response, which places the reduction of alcohol consumption and its harms to children at the heart of government policy.
“Unless we put the lives and experiences of children affected to the forefront of policy making, then they will continue to suffer. We can no longer ignore the role of alcohol in the maltreatment and abuse of children. There is ample evidence of the corrosive role PPAU plays in stealing childhoods and devastating adulthoods.
“There is a need for government policy across multiple departments to recognise the role alcohol plays in devastating childhoods and respond with progressive policy responses to address this.”
Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, said: “This report is a timely reminder of the wide range of risks that children can face in everyday life. I have visited enough domestic refuges and family hubs, and spoken with enough children about their lives there, to know that alcohol abuse is still a major destroyer of lives across this country. It is too often overlooked when the trauma of those children is being discussed.
“All children have the right to feel safe from harm, to have a family life (free from fear), to have a secure home and to be able to reach their potential through good education and health services. Unfortunately, what this report clearly highlights is that too many of our children are being exposed to harmful behaviours, violence and poverty as a result of parental problem alcohol use (PPAU). We need to ensure that adequate supports are in place for families in these situations, and there is equal access to treatment for parents in addiction.
“This report should be a real wake-up call for Irish society – enough is enough. We need to recognise the enormous damage being done across every city, town and village in Ireland by through alcohol abuse. This report goes on to recommend ways in which we can do better for these children and reduce the trauma that they have to go through, at the most vulnerable stages of their lives. I urge the government to give serious consideration to these recommendations and to demonstrate its commitment through meaningful and sustained investment in their delivery.”
Silent Voices patron Ailbhe Smyth said: “Problem alcohol use in the home can deeply disrupt families and frequently there can be compounding issues such as domestic abuse, which can have a hugely damaging impact on children who witness or experience it. The fear and powerlessness children feel in such circumstances can leave mental scars that last a lifetime and often when a child has mental health needs they are manifesting some trauma in the family. As a society we are in denial about the harm alcohol causes to children. It is imperative that we start to take this issue more seriously and to realise the impact that problem alcohol use in the home has on children and start looking more closely at what can be done to support them.”
Places for tomorrow’s event, which is free, are limited but still available, and can be booked here
ENDS
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]]>The post Press release: Excise duties freeze and misguided pub scheme yet more proof that government has absorbed industry spin around alcohol appeared first on Alcohol Action Ireland.
]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate for reducing alcohol harm, is disappointed by the government’s decision not to increase excise duties on alcohol in today’s budget, which is compounded by the misguided decision to give away €15 million to publicans. This budget is the 13th year in succession that duties have not been touched, so their public health value continues to be eroded by inflation and are now at least 15% lower in real terms.
With excise duties on tobacco rising by a substantial €1 on a pack of cigarettes, it is clear the government understands the value of price controls as a policy option to change consumer behaviour and promote public health. AAI therefore finds it disappointing that government refuses to increase alcohol excise duties, which would have the dual benefit of helping reduce population-level consumption and its associated harms, while at the same time raising much needed revenue to help cover the cost of cleaning up the mess alcohol causes.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Another budget, another sop to the alcohol industry by a government that loves to promote its public health credentials when it comes to tobacco but chooses to look the other way when it comes to alcohol, which is strange considering alcohol harm likely costs the state twice as much as tobacco. The alcohol industry in Ireland records massive profits at the expense of people’s mental and physical health and costs the exchequer an estimated 2.5% of GDP annually in health, justice and lost productivity costs – for 2025 that’s around €15 billion.
“The decision to freeze excise duties and in fact give away €15 million to publicans is yet more proof that this government has absorbed industry spin as opposed to looking at the facts around alcohol, which is Ireland’s cheapest, most harmful and most widely available drug.
“While the details of the government’s support package for pubs are yet to be worked out, any funding that is linked to product purchases is a bad thing for public health and is contradictory to the Department of Health’s stated aim of reducing population-level alcohol consumption, which is still stubbornly more than one-third above the level if everyone drank at current HSE lower-risk guidelines.
“The reality for rural pubs is that changes in licensing legislation at the turn of the century led to a huge growth in off-licenses which flooded the market with cheap alcohol that ate into their share of trade. On top of that, Ireland currently ranks third in the world for pubs per capita with one pub for every 684 adults nationally. Rural counties having even greater density (there’s a pub for every 330 people in Kerry) and even the chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association has stated that Ireland is ‘overpubbed’. What is certain is that their core issue will remain unless government re-introduces tighter controls on the number of off-licences, or Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol is increased to stem the flow of cheap off-licence alcohol into the market.
“Also despite the spin about young people drinking less, the reality is that alcohol consumption in the age group 15-24-year-olds in Ireland is rising substantially and steadily, from 66% in 2018 to 78% in 2025 – levels not seen since the early 2000s when youth drinking was considered at crisis levels. The continued rise in youth drinking is a red flag for a coming tsunami of harms from alcohol. Action such as an increase in excise duties is needed otherwise the government is only storing up more problems across multiple areas.
“It is accepted that increasing alcohol excise duties is politically sensitive as there are competing interests between big business and public health and every year the alcohol industry spends huge sums lobbying government in the run-up to the budget. Many other countries take the heat out of the issue by automatically linking excise increases with inflation. For example, in Australia, alcohol taxes are revised twice annually in line with inflation. Doing something similar here would be a huge boost to public health in Ireland.”
The policy contradiction around today’s funding for publicans, who are getting preferential treatment to many other struggling business owners whose product doesn’t kill four people a day, is also a symptom of a more general lack of government co-ordination around alcohol.
Dr Gilheany continued: “A strategic goal of AAI is the establishment of an Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction which would drive coherent government policy development on alcohol and would particularly seek to coordinate across government departments. Alcohol policy is currently spread out over multiple departments including Health, Justice, Finance, Education, Media, Tourism, Enterprise and Agriculture, often with contradictory and incompatible aims. For example, the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, which comes from the Department of Health, aims to reduce population-level alcohol consumption, while the proposed Sale of Alcohol Bill from the Department of Justice looks to increase availability.
“Ireland has previously developed successful strategies to other public health concerns such as reducing sugar consumption and smoking. There is much from those strategies that can be applied to addressing the harms from alcohol, such as the establishment of the Office for Tobacco Control which, according to Micheál Martin, “gave us capacity to deal with the issue.”
“An Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction is surely just common sense and as to why Ireland hasn’t yet taken such an approach is maybe not such a mystery – it certainly serves vested interests to have a multitude of government bodies with no clear oversight of the issues around alcohol harm. As we saw with the fiasco of delaying health information labels of alcohol products, there is a lack of high-level leadership around alcohol policy which, coupled with the ease of access the alcohol industry has to government figures, has created a space in government where industry misinformation has been allowed to flourish.
“To recap, last year government delayed Ireland’s world-leading labelling legislation until September 2028 due to alcohol industry claims labels would impact exports in the wake of President Trump’s tariff bonanza – despite labels only applying to products sold in Ireland. Then, just last month we had the astonishing announcement in the aftermath of the Irish Open golf championship that all tariffs on Irish whiskey were being removed. So now we have no labels, no tariffs and a very happy alcohol industry. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
“With that in mind, we are calling on all political parties to support such an Office, which would be a game changer in recalibrating Ireland’s relationship with alcohol.”
ENDS
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]]>The post Press release: Closing alcohol loyalty card loophole is welcome but more can be achieved appeared first on Alcohol Action Ireland.
]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, welcomes the recent move to amend the regulations applying to Section 23 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 (PHAA) by Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Section 23 of the PHAA gives the Minister the power to ban specific types of alcohol promotions and marketing that could encourage people to buy or consume more alcohol than they otherwise would.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “This amendment is a welcome boost for public health by ensuring that big retailers cannot circumvent the law any more to sell cut-price alcohol.
“Section 23 bans specific types of alcohol promotions including using or earning bonus points when buying alcohol. When first introduced in January 2023 supermarkets got round this by giving discounts based on just having a loyalty card or being part of a loyalty scheme.
“The move also highlights that alcohol is no ordinary product and should not be treated as a regular grocery item given the significant burden arising from it, with thousands of hospital admissions every year, four people dying every day and a massive toll on families, communities and the state.
“We appreciate that the Minister of Health has acted to address the issue of supermarket club schemes. This will have some impact but even more could be achieved.
“Despite being signed into law back in 2018, not all sections of the PHAA are implemented even though they were designed to work in tandem. For example, the delay in implementing alcohol health information labelling to September 2028 following a global campaign by the alcohol industry is more than disappointing and shows the lengths that this industry will go to subvert this important legislation.
“Meanwhile other sections are being undermined by the loophole of marketing 0.0 products that use the same branding as their full-strength equivalents in places off-limits to alcohol marketing.”
The two further sections of the Act that remain to be commenced are in relation to advertising: Section 13 which places restrictions on the content of alcohol advertisements and Section 18 which relates to advertisements in publications.
Dr Gilheany continued: “Section 13, in particular, is ferociously resisted by industry as it restricts the content of alcohol advertisements to facts, stripping out the industry myths which are used to recklessly promote alcohol consumption. In addition, ads for alcohol products will be required to include health information such as cancer warnings and details of the HSE alcohol information website, with the aim of providing unbiased material about alcohol risks and to break the positive associations between alcohol and lifestyle.
“There is strong public support for controls on alcohol marketing and a need for more information on alcohol with polling indicating two in three people support requiring health information labels on alcohol products, including warnings about risks such as cancer. If government is serious about tackling alcohol harm, which kills more than 1,500 people every year and costs the state €14 billion annually, then it needs to have a coherent approach to alcohol across all departments.
“Unfortunately, at the moment, some elements of government are acting at the behest of the alcohol industry seeking delays in the implementation of the PHAA. A commonsense approach would ensure all aspects of alcohol policy are aligned to the goals of the Department of Health to reduce alcohol consumption. This would include action in areas such as increases in alcohol excise duties, strict controls on online marketing of alcohol as well as the full implementation of the PHAA.”
ENDS
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]]>The post Press release: Reducing Ireland’s alcohol consumption can help tackle harms from other drugs – new report appeared first on Alcohol Action Ireland.
]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, has today published its latest report, The relationship between alcohol and other drug use, which draws on national data alongside international evidence to examine the co-use of alcohol and other drugs including cocaine, cannabis, benzodiazepines, opioids, ketamine and MDMA/ecstasy. The report shows that alcohol is rarely the incidental partner in polydrug use, and frequently the foundational driver.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Alcohol is Ireland’s most widely consumed drug, with almost ten times more people using it than illegal drugs. Yet public and political debate too often treats alcohol harm and drug harm as separate concerns or overlooks alcohol altogether. This framing is not only inaccurate but actively unhelpful because it obscures the substance most consistently implicated in polydrug harm – alcohol.
“Alcohol use and drug use are not two separate issues. The evidence shows that alcohol is frequently a driver of the consumption of other drugs and that in combination there are even more risks and harms. For example, HRB data indicates that 85% of lifetime users of cocaine in Ireland also used alcohol on the occasion of first use. One of the main areas of concern is that polydrug use has become increasingly common among young people, especially as youth drinking levels in Ireland have surged from 66% of 15-24-year-olds in 2016 to 78% in 2025, a rate not seen since the early 2000s when youth drinking was considered to be at crisis levels.
“In 2025, the number of cases treated for problem alcohol use in Ireland increased to 8,798 cases. Of those cases, almost one in three also reported problem use of more than one substance, with cocaine (72.1%) the most common additional drug used followed by cannabis (50.4%), benzodiazepines (17.5%) and opioids (9.8%). Cocaine was the main drug reported alongside alcohol among those aged 20-49 years, while cannabis was the main drug reported alongside alcohol in other age groups.
“In addition, 61.8% of cases of treatment for illegal drug use reported problem use of more than one drug; of these cases alcohol was the additional problem drug for 35.2%. Concerningly, among new cases with polydrug use, alcohol (50.2%) was the most common additional substance.
“Moreover, a number of studies have investigated polydrug use including one that examined a sample of Irish festivalgoers. This report found that the majority reported polydrug use, most commonly an average of three substances (with a minimum of two and a maximum of eight); combinations involving alcohol, cocaine, ketamine, and ecstasy were the most commonly cited.”
In recent years, a body of research has been emerging in relation to four harmful commodities which account for more than half of deaths in Ireland: tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels, and unhealthy foods. Alcohol is often overlooked in discussions regarding poor health, especially in comparison to tobacco, but research indicates that alcohol constitutes a much heavier financial burden on people, the health service, and the taxpayer. This research is also true in terms of the far greater economic burden of alcohol harm than that of illegal drugs.
Dr Gilheany continued: “The evidence is consistent across every substance examined: co-use with alcohol intensifies harm. Yet amid growing attention to illegal drugs, alcohol – Ireland’s most prevalent and most damaging drug – remains persistently overlooked. For example, the terms of reference of the recent Citizens Assembly on Drugs specifically excluded consideration of alcohol. In contrast many of the agencies providing treatment services or working in the areas of education and prevention do so for both alcohol and illegal drugs.
“What is clear is that efforts to reduce illegal drug use will not succeed without concurrent actions to address Ireland’s alcohol consumption. Crucially, the strong association between early alcohol use and later drug use points to a clear policy lever – reducing and delaying alcohol consumption, particularly among young people, offers a means of addressing both alcohol and illegal drug harm.
“National and international evidence strongly indicates that interventions on affordability, advertising, and availability are the most effective public policy measures that governments can take to offset at least some of the harm caused by alcohol. An important benefit of such an approach is the likely reduction in the consumption of other drugs and a good place for government to start would be to raise excise duties on alcohol in the upcoming Budget.
“Ireland has already taken important steps in developing a public health approach to alcohol through the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. However, slow implementation of the modest measures within it means that this legislation has not yet achieved its full potential. Meanwhile other areas of government seek to support the alcohol industry including delaying measures such as controls on advertising and on health information labelling.
“As the State pursues a health-led approach to illegal drug use in Ireland, it is essential that government policy and messaging unequivocally states that alcohol carries significant risks and that combining alcohol and illegal drugs is even more dangerous, with multiple negative health implications beyond the consumption of a substance individually.
“A renewed focus on alcohol is needed both within the upcoming Drugs Strategy and across government, so that there is a fully coherent approach to both alcohol and illegal drugs. Acknowledging these realities and implementing the cross-departmental policies which are proven to work will ultimately save lives, improve Ireland’s health and ensure a safer environment for all.”
ENDS
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]]>The post Press release: EU’s Kids Act: More robust measures needed to stop manipulative digital and social media alcohol marketing to children appeared first on Alcohol Action Ireland.
]]>Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, welcomes today’s announcement of the EU Kids Act by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, but cautions more robust safeguards are badly needed to protect children from predatory online marketing practices when it comes to health-harming commodities such as alcohol.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “While the full text of this legislation is yet to be seen, what has been unveiled today seems to focus on limiting children’s access to social media and while this is welcome, more robust measures are urgently needed to stop children and teenagers being targeted by the marketing of harmful products such as alcohol once they are online. The reality is that policy makers, legislators and protectors of children’s rights are already way behind industry tactics designed to ensure young people drink as soon as possible and as often as possible.
“We know that digital alcohol marketing employs subtle tactics, including influencer marketing, sponsored content, and user-generated content, which effectively promotes drinking behaviours among young people. We also know that there is significant association between exposure to alcohol advertisements and drinking intentions, attitudes, and behaviours, particularly among children and adolescents, with alcohol marketing a key driver of both initiating alcohol use by children and increasing use if they have already started drinking.
“Social-media and video sharing platforms offer ideal environments for marketing, allowing alcohol companies to reach young people with tailored and engaging content, often through the exploitation of user data and preferences to create sophisticated, personalised marketing content.
“There is a lack of data collection in Ireland regarding the scale of online alcohol advertising to young people, which needs to be urgently addressed. A report developed by the Institute of Public Health for the Online Health Taskforce found a lack of systematic evidence on the scale and type of digital marketing encountered by children, while also identifying alcohol marketing as an area where evidence points to substantial levels of exposure among young people. It also highlighted the absence of comprehensive monitoring systems, and a lack of a single body responsible for assessing children’s exposure and coordinating actions.
“It is within this context that we must view the 12% increase in youth drinking in Ireland over the past decade and we now have a situation where young drinkers, 15–24-year-olds, make up the largest proportion of the population consuming alcohol (78%), significantly higher than the national average (71%) – this in a country where 64% of young people regularly binge drink and one in three young drinkers has an Alcohol Use Disorder. Meanwhile the most recent figures available show that 16% of all deaths in Europe among 15-19-year-olds were attributable to alcohol, while for 20-24-year-olds this figure was 23%.”
In Ireland, the world-leading Public Health (Alcohol) Act (PHAA) restricts certain elements of alcohol marketing to minimise children’s exposure and help reduce the normalisation of alcohol in youth culture. However, these modest measures do not extend to digital marketing.
Dr Gilheany continued: “Maximising advertising revenue is the core part of many social media companies’ business model, and we cannot trust them to voluntarily keep our children safe. Social media companies should be obligated to reveal who sees alcohol ads, right now we just don’t know. Digital marketing and advertising of alcohol content, which is being spread through social media and image/video sharing platforms by alcohol producers and their brands, is often inconsistent with producers’ own self-regulation advertising frameworks. Therefore, effective and enforced legal regulation is necessary – not self-regulation by industry-funded bodies.
“This is especially true in relation to algorithmic targeting, or recommender systems, that determine what social media users see based on personal data such as search history, past purchases, age and location, given these algorithms are not covered by Ireland’s Online Safety Code.
“While Ireland, under the EU Digital Services Act, has introduced a ban on profiling for advertisements when a platform can establish with reasonable certainty that the recipient of the service is a minor, content is not covered by this even though issues persist in relation to children being fed harmful content on social media and video sharing platforms. This is of further concern because it can be argued that there is a fine line between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes content.
“There is no doubt that government is aware of the need to protect children from harmful advertising online given that they have implemented some moderate controls in relation to gambling ads on social media and on-demand platforms under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024.
“AAI believe a multi-departmental and multi-agency response is necessary to regulate against manipulative digital and social media marketing and to curtail the harmful effects of social media advertising practices.
“It is essential that government, through strong regulation and enforcement, as well as fostering awareness and advocating for responsible media consumption practices, strives to protect young people as they navigate the online world.”
ENDS
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