Ms Claire Rush:

I thank the Deputy for his question. As outlined, including in Mr. Meade's statement, the e-commerce directive already provides for a liability regime for the removal of unlawful content. What we are here to discuss is a broader level of harm, some of which may be illegal and some which may be lawful or permissible under the terms of the law. We are here to engage on how these can be appropriately defined, how an appropriate notice and takedown regime can be defined and how there could be a role for a regulator in developing standards or guidelines to which Internet service providers or online intermediaries should have to adhere. Naturally as part of this there would need to be a reasonable sanctions approach. We appreciate this and we understand it entirely. The nitty-gritty detail would be a matter for the Legislature.

Our position is that there would be a phased proportionate approach that would look at systematic adherence to the standards or guidelines a regulator might lay out as opposed to focusing on individual instances of content per se.