Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will follow on from what Deputy Higgins said about social media and individuals being targeted. On WhatsApp and other applications, users can hide their identity. I was recently targeted on one such application, where a user portrayed themselves as somebody else. They can remove any trace of their identity. As long as they do not use Facebook or a messaging service but instead certain applications, it is not traceable. Legislation is needed for matters such as this. If anything is uploaded on any device, the device should be registered to a person.

It does not bother me but it is an issue from the point of view of putting out false spin and using other people's names on this false spin, which meant we had to waste valuable Oireachtas time to correct something that was put up falsely. I was able to correct it but it was false spin that went out through an area where there was no traceability on these apps. There has to be regulation on something like that. Anything like that has to be traceable or linked to somebody, no matter what is put out on social media.