People are recording tragic incidents to put them on social media, Independent TD Michael Lowry has told the Dáil.
The Tipperary TD said that last week a mother had to watch her son's final moments on an online platform.
Luke Hyde, who was aged 34, was filmed after he got into difficulty and later drowned in the River Lee in Cork.
Social media has become the scourge of our times, it is destroying lives and we seem powerless to stop it, Mr Lowry said.
He added that the sheer power of social media had destroyed the social conscience.
He described it as a malaise and said that blackmail is commonly used to threaten victims who live in fear of the content becoming public.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said it was deeply distressing that people would take out their phones and film when people are in distress.
This was, he said, a failure of basic human decency.
He warned that there is now a very real risk of someone close to the victim of a serious accident finding out about this tragedy through online coverage.
The social media platforms have a role play in getting content removed as quickly as possible, he said.
Coimisiún na Meán is a new powerful regulator which has a code in place that sets out what designated video platforms must do to protect users, Mr Chambers said.
He told the house that certain filming can also constitute a criminal offence.
