Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Wednesday, 10 December 2025
On the day that Australia’s world-leading under-16 social media ban due to child safety concerns came into effect, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, has launched a new report – Digital and social media marketing of alcohol – detailing the nature and scale of digital and social media alcohol marketing and the exposure of children and young people to alcohol as a result.
The widespread adoption of digital technologies and online social networks has revolutionised the way marketers engage with consumers which has brought new, and ever evolving, issues in relation to child protection in the online space, including the marketing of harmful products such as alcohol to children and teenagers. AAI’s new report brings together national and international research outlining how digital alcohol marketing employs subtle tactics, including influencer marketing, sponsored content, and user-generated content, which effectively promotes drinking behaviours among young people.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Research by CyberSafeKids revealed that 71% of 8–12-year-olds in Ireland have their own accounts on social media and instant messaging apps with a minimum age restriction of 13. While there is a lack of data collection in Ireland regarding the scale of online alcohol advertising to young people, which in itself needs to be addressed, Australian research has shown that young people may see more than 20 alcohol ads per hour on social media, while New Zealand research found that nearly three-quarters of young people in a study (70.6%) reported seeing alcohol marketing on a social media platform they regularly use. These ads appeared across many different social media platforms, but most commonly were seen on Instagram (72.9%), YouTube (56.6%), Facebook (45.8%), Tik Tok (37.1%) and Snapchat (19.6%).
“We know that there is significant association between exposure to alcohol advertisements and drinking intentions, attitudes, and behaviours, particularly among children and adolescents. 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.
“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%).”
Some of the findings of the report include:
- Research from CyberSafeKids revealed that 93% of 8–12-year-olds had their own smart device, rising to 99% of 12–15-year-olds.
- Research into influencer alcohol posting which analysed the posts of 178 Instagram influencers found that 63.5% had at least one alcohol post among the last 100 posts.
- Young teenagers see an almost equal amount of alcohol advertising from industry (36%) as they do from influencers (38%) when using social media.
- Personalised algorithmic recommendations often target material to children that a platform’s official policy forbids – such as alcohol.
Dr Gilheany continued: “It is well established that exposure to alcohol marketing increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol, and to drink more if they are already using alcohol. When we look at the data on youth drinking, we can get an appreciation for the seriousness of the situation. Every year around 50,000 children start drinking in Ireland, 64% of young people regularly binge drink and one in three young drinkers has an Alcohol Use Disorder. 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%.
“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. People’s well-being must be prioritised over commercial profits – action must be taken. We know the alcohol industry continues to use increasingly innovative marketing strategies, not yet covered by statutory regulatory frameworks, to reach their audiences.
“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 their 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. Additionally, more must be done to ensure minors are not exposed to alcohol ads on social media in instances where industry’s self-regulatory age-affirmation systems are ineffective at preventing under-aged access. 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 which puts them at risk. This is of further concern because it can be argued that there is a fine line between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes content.
“It is of note that the statutory controls on alcohol advertising from the Public Health (Alcohol) Act (2018) which have been implemented to date refer specifically to the traditional marketing channels including such measures as a ban on alcohol ads close to schools, on public transport and a broadcast watershed on TV and radio. These are designed to protect children from alcohol advertising. However, it is clear that the digital space greatly exceeds these modest controls which are not sufficient to protect children online. Previously, children’s exposure to broadcast advertising was monitored through reporting mechanisms such as the Statutory Report on the Children’s Commercial Communications Code. Unfortunately, there are no such statutory monitoring mechanisms for the online space.
“There is no doubt that government and policy makers are 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
NOTES
Digital and social media marketing of alcohol is available here
Ireland’s Online Safety Code is available here
More on alcohol marketing, protecting children available here
