Ms Niamh Hodnett:

We regulate the platforms. We create the binding obligations with which the platforms have to comply, including the removal of, or reduction in, harmful content as well as the prohibition on illegal content. We do not regulate individuals and would not have access to the IP addresses behind anonymous accounts, for example. That would be a matter for law enforcement and An Garda Síochána. That said, we work very closely with An Garda Síochána and have been doing so since our establishment. We have very good engagement with An Garda Síochána in relation to a number of matters that have arisen over our tenure.

On the individual complaints framework, we have been taking in contacts and complaints under the Digital Services Act since 17 February. Individuals are raising queries with us about how best to make a complaint and we would always say to flag it to the platform first. We are aware that there is a lot of complaint fatigue or flagging fatigue out there among the public but now that the era of self-regulation is over, we will be holding the platforms to account and making sure they are dealing with complaints in a timely and diligent manner, as is their legal obligation under the Digital Services Act. We have launched a campaign entitled "Spot It. Flag It. Stop It.", which underlines the importance of reporting content because that changes the obligations on the platform, where illegal content has been flagged to them. It changes that exemption from liability or exemption from having to generally monitor what is out there. Once that content is flagged, they are on notice if it is illegal and they have to take steps to address that complaint. They have to form a decision and provide that decision to the user who has flagged the content for removal.

In terms of anonymity, however, it is one of the harms or one of the reasons for many harms occurring that we flag in our harms reports. We published a report on online harms in December of last year at the same time as we consulted on our draft online safety code. It points to a number of factors that give rise to harmful content online. One of those factors is anonymity. However, there can be times when anonymity is also useful for people online when they are trying to explore new communities or find out information.