Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Duke for her presentation.

YouTube has a massive network and a phenomenal number of people use it. It has enhanced society massively, but, as politicians, we always hear about the negatives. We do not hear the good comments. We constantly receive representations about bullying, suicide, abuse and defamation. I assume the company has a legal department to offer advice on these issues and analyse information and regularly update staff in this regard. Perhaps Ms Duke might elaborate on that aspect.

There is also a language problem as social media spread across jurisdictions. How does the company address this issue, given that it has staff in every country? Language usage varies between and within countries and identifying what is considered abusive by one person or group as to opposed to another is an issue. That argument also applies to religion. Somebody in the West might have a different view compared to someone in the East, Africa or on another continent. Is this taken into account when handling complaints? How is this aspect monitored?

With regard to people remaining anonymous, will Ms Duke elaborate on how YouTube identifies who is online and how it takes people offline? For example, it took a long time to have a video from my area on which a number of people threatened others taken down, even with the Garda involved and others making complaints. She has mentioned the flagging system, which is a good idea. How often is it used? How quick is the response to a complaint? Is it 15 or 20 minutes or half an hour? On the basis of representations I receive, it takes many hours.