Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have had a good discussion around paid political advertising. I have one remaining question. European regulation of online political advertising would provide harmonisation, and I can see why multinational companies would rather have that framework than a different framework in each country, for operational reasons alone. The difficulty is that different countries allow different levels of donations. For example, on this island we have two different jurisdictions, one with almost an uncapped donations system and the other, in the South, which, to be fair, bans corporate donations above €100 and caps personal donations. When one limits the amount of money in politics, the exploitation of the tools becomes less serious but when there are uncapped resources, that is a difficulty. I would argue that while European regulations are important, we need to specify for each particular country and each democracy. Our voting system is unique, with the exception of Malta.

My question is for Twitter. We have talked about paid political advertising. I believe the allowing of anonymous accounts on Twitter also prevents transparency around the spending of money in politics. Yes, that can happen on Facebook but it is far more obvious on Facebook when an account is fake. I believe the anonymous accounts on Twitter allow a disgusting and horrible culture of trolling on Twitter, and I do not understand why Twitter would allow that to continue. I have continuously called for anonymised accounts to be banned, and I do not know why Twitter allows it.

It would also prevent paid political operatives operating multiple anonymous accounts, which prevents transparency as well. If I am paying for election posters to be erected or leaflets to be delivered, people can see that. However, if I am paying people to troll other people on an account, that cannot be seen. I am not saying that is happening but that it is very possible under the current system. Anonymised accounts facilitate that, and I cannot understand why Twitter allows those anonymised accounts on its platform.