Social media firms ‘very conscious’ of danger
IRELAND’S electoral watchdog has praised efforts by social media companies to tackle disinformation, saying they’re ‘very, very conscious’ that ‘serious damage can be done to democracy’.
It comes as the country prepares to vote in two referendums on March 8, and the local and European elections in June.
Ahead of the polls, Art O’Leary, chief executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, has urged the public to treat each day like it is April Fool’s Day and question where the information is coming from.
But he told the Joint Oireachtas Commitbility tee on European Union Affairs that he is ‘very happy’ with engagement from major tech companies over its plans to remove damaging material during elections.
Mr O’Leary said he has held meetings with Meta, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Google and Technology Ireland about online issues, adding they have a good working relationship.
He told committee members that the Electoral Commission has been given ‘safe channels’ to social media giants in order to deal with urgent matters.
‘I am encouraged by the level of responsithey have shown in relation to how they’re going to deal with that (misinformation and disinformation). They’re very, very conscious that their platforms are a place where quite serious damage can be done to democracy,’ Mr O’Leary said.
‘I have been pleased by the attitude and respect that they have shown to us and to the process as part of that conversation.
‘These are not easy meetings for any of us because we have particular requirements but I’m very, very happy with the level of engagement. I asked them what are their plans and arrangements for dealing with mis- and disinformation on the platform in an electoral context. And they have all laid out their procedures, their processes, how they engage and investigate allegations of mis and disinformation.’
Sinn Féin’s Ruairí Ó Murchú said there is a ‘huge body’ of work to do to ensure the spread of misinformation and disinformation is contained.
He added: ‘We’ve all entered into a world where anyone can post whatever has entered their head at 12 o’clock at night after a couple of bottles of beer, possibly a couple of bottles of wine.
‘But then you have other players that are not so benign, and they can be state-actors and they can be non-state-actors.’