Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 October 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Online Harassment and Harmful Communications: Discussion

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Probably a lot of their share price is skewed based on fake accounts. An issue that goes beyond here is that of fake news, much of which is centred in countries that probably have less regulation than we would have. Many of these issues could be resolved with a verification process because we would see a levelling of people. As Professor Carthy said, the majority of people are there to have a community platform. Many residents' associations have internal groups where everyone knows each other and is properly verified. The external manifestation of many of these platforms involves anybody and everybody and the same individuals behind multiple accounts. There is no technological difficulty but a commercial one. There is a lot of discussion about corporation tax in an Irish context but we have a responsibility in the global context to properly regulate these entities because they constitute a platform of significant harm, as the witnesses have all noted. It has to happen regardless of whether it is through legislation, co-operation or regulation. I thank the witnesses for their submissions and information.

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