Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I do not think we should underestimate the importance of this legislation.

I see its purpose as slightly different from that outlined by Ms Quill. What we must do is ensure that citizens and persons resident in Ireland can engage with the media, including social media, in a safe manner and that their individual human rights are protected. We must also ensure that this legislation sets out to guarantee a free media that is pluralist and balanced because that is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. Our approach must be about keeping those facts in mind. We, as legislators, the Future of Media Commission, and the online safety commissioner will be judged by how we manage those objectives. We will have big debates over the next period on freedom of speech and opinion versus individual human rights and the rights to reputation and privacy. It is important, therefore, that we see this legislation as broader than simply the transposition of a directive.

Before I ask my questions, I will follow up briefly on Deputy Munster's point. I am glad there is discussion about the new media commission needing to scale up very quickly to at least the size of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. Given that the Data Protection Commissioner is regulating for much of the European Union and the new media commission will regulate the tech sector for much of the European Union, I am concerned that the Office of the Data Protection Commission currently does not have a sufficient number of staff or level of expertise. We need to flag that.

Will the new online safety commissioner define what is meant by harmful content, including serious cyberbullying material? There will also be the question of how we deal with that which is lawful but awful. This will be one of the challenges around cyberbullying and how it is defined.

Online services that are regulated have a responsibility to manage and remove harmful content. One of the biggest complaints we have about Facebook, Twitter and other such companies is the speed at which they remove such content. The witnesses will be aware that under German legislation, social media providers must handle complaints and remove offensive content within 24 hours. I favour that position. Could it be done by the online safety and media commission?

As part of the provisions, will social media companies require individuals who are opening accounts to identify themselves, either through using a passport or driver's licence or through trusted digital identity intermediaries? If we open a bank account, we must use a passport. Why can we not impose the same requirement on Facebook and Twitter? Will the media commission be able to do that? Will it have powers to take down and block certain websites such as those involved in phishing, spreading malware, criminal activity or defamatory material?

Will the media commission have the power to examine algorithmic and machine learning models that are used by the social media companies? If a determination is made that they are driving people towards sites with disinformation or misinformation, or if we see algorithmic bias, will the media commission have power in those areas? I am conscious that I have raised many issues.