Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Haugen for attending. I welcome her to Ireland in a virtual way. I apologise if some of my questions have been answered. I have not been able to listen to the entire meeting. If I repeat points, I ask to be indulged.

It is now widely known that in 2016 Facebook made changes to its algorithms. These resulted in Facebook becoming a much angrier place. That was evident to all and it resulted in circumstances in which people tended to share angrier content and posts. The change to the algorithm and atmosphere clearly led to incredibly partisan pages. Partisan organisations were able to exploit it. It has been fairly widely written that the change to the algorithm and how Facebook was operated and used had an influence on the US election of 2016. Was Facebook fully aware of the material impact of the change to its algorithm?