Mr. Dualta Ó Broin:

I thank the members of the committee for inviting Facebook to participate in these hearings as it conducts its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. As members will be aware, Facebook has been calling for regulation of harmful online content since 2019. We do not believe it should be left to companies such as ours alone to decide what should and should not be allowed to remain online.

Members may have had an opportunity to review our written submission, which contains our seven main recommendations for the Bill. I do not intend to try to cover all of those points in the three minutes available to me. Instead, I will focus on three key areas. The first of these relates to the establishment and appointment of the regulator. When the Government announced its intention to introduce legislation and appoint an online safety commissioner in March 2019, Ireland took a leadership role in the ongoing global debate on how to appropriately regulate harmful and illegal online content. The rapid establishment of a fully resourced and staffed regulator is crucial for several reasons. One of these is to ensure existing EU law is implemented, but another is to provide the research and evidence base for decisions to be taken by policymakers and legislators in Ireland. In our submission, we call for the rapid establishment of an online safety commissioner and the prioritisation of existing EU online safety law.

The second point is that the safety of our users is a priority for us. The idea that it is in our interest to allow harmful content on our platform is categorically untrue. Creating a safe environment where people from all over the world can share and connect is core to our business model. If our services are not safe, people will not share content with each other and, over time, will stop using them. Advertisers do not want their brands associated with harmful content, and advertising is Facebook's main source of revenue. For this reason, in consultation with subject matter experts for more than 15 years, we have developed policies, tools and a reporting infrastructure that are designed to protect all of our users. We continue to evolve these policies and launch new safety features. To give an example, recently there has been a focus on abuse directed at sportspeople and other public figures on Instagram. Last month, we launched a message filter on Instagram which redirects abusive messages so people never have to see them. This filter, which we hope will be effective in tackling this challenge, is rolling out on Instagram in Ireland now.

I commend the secondary school students who appeared before the committee recently to give evidence in respect of online bullying. It has long been our view that while we will continue to play our part in addressing and removing this type of content from our platforms, online bullying requires a multifaceted, multi-stakeholder approach. That is why we have invested heavily in Ireland’s National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in Dublin City University. The centre’s FUSE programme, which we are pleased to fund, takes an evidence-based approach to online safety and gives students, teachers and parents the tools to speak about and address online bullying. As the Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science heard from the National Anti-Bullying and Research and Resource Centre last week, FUSE has, since its launch in 2018, has engaged with over 130 schools across all counties, with positive results.

I look forward to today’s engagement and I hope to be able to respond to as many of the members’ questions as possible.