Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht
General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed)
Dr. Theo Bertram:
I have those numbers of videos and accounts globally but not for Ireland. I will be happy to write to the committee with the numbers. On the online safety commissioner, we are very happy to work with the committee on that and to explore what co-operation means.
There is anonymity and there is accountability. The crucial thing is that we have accountability for all our users so that if someone does something that is in breach of our rules or if he or she breaks the law, we are able to identify that person. I do not think that means a person cannot be anonymous as long as he or she is accountable. We are in some ways a different platform to the other companies in that ours is a video-driven platform. A person with a video camera to his or her face might be less likely to be anonymous, which is harder to do, and hopefully, less likely to drive that conflicting and controversial content.
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