Dr. Mary Aiken:

Accountability is the key. The use of the metaphor of the bystander is interesting because the bystander effect, which is inherent in psychology, is the premise of diffusion of responsibility. There can be such a diffusion that nobody feels responsible or steps up to be accountable. We have allowed social technology platforms - as opposed to social media, given that search technologies should be considered in the process - to define themselves. Facebook recently described itself as a movement. It is fantastic if it wants to describe itself as such but where is the accountability? It is up to us as policymakers and legislators to say that, in fact, we will define such companies. We will decide whether they are publishers or broadcasters. Whether it is user-generated content is not the issue. Let us imagine that RTÉ Radio left the door open and allowed every man and his dog to walk in off the street and say something on air, and then broadcast it. It is the same model as somebody broadcasting online.

The Garda needs additional expertise, not least in the form of cyberbehavioural scientists, to enhance its efforts. It needs more resources, including machine intelligence, to tackle the problems. It has reached out to me on numerous occasions to hold dedicated workshops and training sessions with it. It is doing its best to keep up in cyberspace but we need to provide additional support and resources, and the country is well placed to do so. Professor Barry O'Sullivan, who is the chair of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence, is based in the country, ready and willing to help, as am I.