Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo Deputy Griffin's comments.

I have a question for the representatives Facebook. Today, Twitter made the same call as Facebook and requested that the proposed legislation to be delayed until the enactment of the EU Digital Services Act. The Digital Services Act does not make any major policy changes in the harmful content area. Therefore, I do not see how a delay would have any impact whatsoever. Any amendments that may be needed could be made at any time in the future. The call for a delay is contradictory to Facebook's white paper on charting the way forward on online content regulation, which makes strong calls for states to regulate platforms. Indeed, Mr. Ó Broin stated that Facebook has been calling for this for many years, that it should not be left to social media companies alone and that there should be regulation. That is completely at odds with how Facebook has lobbied the European Commission over many years on privacy and the code of conduct on hate speech. What Facebook is telling us here publicly is not what it sought when it lobbied hard behind closed doors against regulation. That is quite contradictory. I feel that the call to delay this legislation is essentially what Facebook might get away with publicly. I would appreciate a comment on why we should delay this legislation.