Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Haugen for joining us and for all of the work she has done. She has done the world a great service and it is important that is acknowledged. This meeting is a good opportunity for us to consult her and hear her views. Today we are having a good, moderate and reasonable discussion, with some good contributions from my colleagues but it is not likely to be amplified on Facebook. Someone would have to say something ridiculous or extremist to get more attention but more people need to be engaged in this area.

I wish to ask about online anonymity, particularly in the context of Facebook and Meta. What efforts have been made to reduce the element of anonymity? How difficult would it be for them to clamp down on it? When I was launching my "like" page, I had to produce my passport and basically tell them what I had for breakfast but one does not have to do that across the board. Indeed, with some social media platforms, the lack of individual tracing is just ridiculous. Has there been a real effort on the part of Facebook to look into this area more?