Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation and thank Ms Duke for the presentation. I acknowledge the great work the company is doing and wish it well in its future endeavours. It is interesting to see the figures which show how the company has taken off globally in the past ten years and its interaction with the ordinary citizen. The committee is trying to ascertain the legal issues around cyber bullying and posting defamatory material on YouTube and other social media. Ms Duke has outlined the company's policy on flagging and how it deals internally with something dangerous, misleading or malicious on the site. What resources does it put into this work? It must be an enormous job to police the site, judging by the volume of traffic on it.

The Internet is a bread and butter matter for kids growing up today. What data does the company have on the issue of suicide? People are interacting at very vulnerable times in their lives. Has YouTube dedicated any resources to dealing with this issue? Can Ms Duke safely say the company has intervened when people have posted such material or was it too late? That kind of information is hugely important. We would all love to think that from playschool on society is pleasant and that no one makes malicious comments, as everybody wants to live in Utopia.

The question of whether there is a gap or otherwise in the legislation in Ireland or internationally is constantly raised. The Minister outlined it in the opening paragraphs of his contribution before we started these hearings. Many believe that when they are damaged by malicious comment on the Internet, whether on YouTube or any other platform, they have no recourse to the law. What recourse is available if somebody from outside the State posts something defamatory about an individual that is without foundation and damaging? Is there inter-jurisdictional legislation in place? What law or recourse is available to that person? There is a great deal of evidence, anecdotal and factual, that what is happening on the Internet is causing huge damage to a certain percentage of people. We do not have to go outside the Republic to see the numbers who have been damaged. If that reflects the percentage worldwide, a very high percentage of people are affected. Many access this very successful technology, from which the general populace derives great good. Is it necessary for the United Nations or other international bodies to take this crime as seriously as they do any other?

Ms Duke has shown us how much the technology has developed in the past ten years, with 4 billion people using it, and for how many hours each person uses it. What do we need to do? We want to present a report to the Government and others on what we believe is the way forward.