Ms Niamh Sweeney:

There is probably a distinction worth making here between fake accounts and fake names. We remove millions of accounts every day. I do not have the exact figures to hand. We release numbers on a quarterly basis on the number of fake accounts we have deleted. That speaks more to the issue the Chairman raised with respect to those inauthentic co-ordinated accounts sometimes known as bots, although I hate using that word because bots can be good as well. They are useful in everyday like when we have automated interactions with different businesses online. They are bots as well. There is the notion that we have fake accounts that do not have a real person behind them, that are being operated from a bunker somewhere, and while I will not reach for the obvious clichés, those fake accounts are picked up by our systems.

Then there are people who operate under a fake name. The only way we would know that is happening is if it is reported to us because, to all intents and purposes, these accounts are real in every other way. There is a real person operating behind the account and connecting with people he or she knows online. They are just not using their name. In that instance, if it is reported to us, we would ask the person to provide proof of identification and, if the person does not provide it, he or she will lose access to his or her account. If the person does provide it, however, and, for example, it is Eamon Ryan who has changed his name to Tim Lombard, we will accept his name is Tim Lombard and he will be able to continue to use the platform.

A few other questions were raised in that round of questions, one of which related to meeting people online. I was not aware of the number Senator O'Reilly shared but I am not surprised by that. Did the Senator say 60% of people have met somebody online whom they do not know in real life.