Digital tsar plan still in the works
THE Government has made contact with officials from the Australian digital safety watchdog’s office to consult with them on issues in relation to appointing such a position. However, Communications Minister Richard Bruton has once again refused to outline a date or timeline of when he will create an Office of Digital Safety Commissioner.
This is despite him reaffirming yesterday his belief that the era of self-regulation for social media platforms is over.
As revealed in the Irish Daily Mail, a powerful Oireachtas committee has drafted an interim report on the Digital Safety Commissioner Bill 2017, which is set to tell the Dáil it should proceed to the next stage. However, Mr Bruton has said setting a date of when the office would be created or a watchdog appointed would be ‘deceiving people’, as the Government does not yet have a ‘satisfactory definition’ on harmful content which is an important aspect of the proposed legislation.
The Bill, from Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, proposes to legislate for a new State agency – the Office of the Digital Safety Commissioner – which would have ‘takedown’ powers to order social media platforms to remove content deemed ‘harmful’. Concerns have been raised over the definition of ‘harmful content’ within the Bill and Mr Bruton confirmed last October he was seeking advice from the Attorney General on this matter.
However, when asked yesterday about when this definition will be reached or decided upon, Mr Bruton said it was not a question of time and more an issue of ‘getting something that is legally robust’.
‘We have to make sure that this is something that everyone is confident that can be enforced and that when we hand it to a Digital Safety Commissioner and from there to the courts, it will stand up to scrutiny,’ he said. He added: ‘If you are to give a legal power to a body to take enforcement measures, you have to have a robust legal definition of what it is you are taking action against. So I have been dealing with the Attorney General to try to work out the sort of definition of harmful content that we would apply in this legislation.’
Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s e-safety commissioner, recently reiterated her offer to talk about her office with Irish legislators, and yesterday Mr Bruton confirmed that ‘we have made contact with the Australian authorities’.
‘We are looking at the definition that they are working [with], and it is timely that they are undertaking a review of their own process so it is providing us with an opportunity to get a good input,’ he said.
RICHARD Bruton is the Government minister responsible for the introduction of a Digital Safety Commissioner, and to date has resolutely reaffirmed that selfregulation of the online world by massive international search engine and social media platforms must end.
However, words and actions are two different things, and when pressed yesterday to provide a timeline for the appointment of such a commissioner, he resolutely refused to do so.
He claimed, with some merit, that to rid the internet of harmful content, you first have to define what that is, and that the definition must be robust and watertight so that these companies cannot rush to the High Court or Supreme Court in a bid to pull down the legislation or have it ruled unconstitutional.
On the other hand, though, it is perfectly reasonable to at least demand that the Government have a plan in place and work to get all the details done and dusted.
In any walk of life, a job without a proper timeline, and deadline, simply ends up being a recipe for inaction. The refusal to offer one might be interpreted as a handy excuse for doing nothing, whether this is true or not.
It is not like there is no clear evidence of the harm people are exposed to. Erin McGregor, sister of UFC fighter Conor, is the latest celebrity to reveal the vile abuse she has suffered at the hands of internet trolls, and quite rightly points out that while she, as an adult, can deal with it, those who are younger or just more vulnerable might not be so lucky.
The longer the minister drags his heels, the more it looks like the position of Digital Safety Commissioner is being kicked into the long grass.
The time for fudge is over, and Mr Bruton must redouble his efforts to ensure his staff are drafting the legislation.
The time for action has long since passed, and what we need now is a clear and unambiguous timeline that everyone adheres to.