Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Session 4: International Collaboration

Mr. Frane Maroevic:

To build on what I already said, I fully agree that we might not find agreement on a panel, never mind in this room, as to what constitutes hate speech or harmful speech. It would be a very difficult and useful discussion but, as we are all saying, we should start off trying to examine regulatory aspects and what we can agree on. Sometimes the problem with speech is not just what is said but the context, virality, reach and impact. These can be examined in much greater detail and measured.

I call for us to try to find a way to get together and reach agreement on the terms of the regulation on as broad a scale as possible. That would allow us to compare different countries and it would be much easier to implement. It would give the experience of the Internet a much more uniform approach; therefore, it would be much more positive and useful in this context. Nevertheless, the discussion on what constitutes difficult, harmful speech needs to continue, but it would be difficult to implement.

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