Ms Julie de Bailliencourt:

On the last question about the process involved, when someone reports a piece of content - I encourage people to do so; it is very quick and easy to do so - we must capture several pieces of information to ensure we understand not only the issue involved but also who should deal with it. If someone here makes a report, it is most likely be examined by someone who is Irish and understands the language, culture and slang. It is a quick process, but the person viewing the content has limited visibility of the content which has been reported. If a photograph is reported, for instance, the person will see the caption and perhaps the top comments. He or she may also see some information on the person who posted the photograph, but he or she will not necessarily have a lot of additional information on what has been going on or where it may have been posted. We strive for balance between efficiency and being quick, showing our reviewers the correct amount of information without overwhelming them with a lot of data. We must also consider the issue of data privacy. We do not want to show more than is necessary in the review.

We strive to give a response in 24 hours. When someone receives a response in that time, the issue has certainly been looked at by a person. Sometimes people believe it is too quick, that it must have been an automated process, but I assure the Deputy that there are real people looking at reports. When they examine the content, they evaluate it against the community standards which Ms Cummiskey described. If they find that there is a credible threat, bullying or dehumanising, they will remove the content and inform the complainant of the action taken. They will also inform the person who posted the content and perhaps give them a warning or block them from sharing more photographs for 24 hours. If it is a very severe case, we may remove the account entirely. The impact on the person depends on the content posted and if it was the first time it was posted or perhaps the tenth instance, with the nature of the issue being reported.

On staff numbers, in almost eight years at Facebook I have never felt our resources are limited. We have always measured our success by achieving a response within the critical 24-hour period for reports or a few minutes in cases involving very critical content. We will continue to hire people for our teams in Dublin and elsewhere to continue to meet the expectations we have set for ourselves. If we believed we were falling short in one particular country or on a particular topic, we would continue to look at how we should deal with the issue.