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

I thank the witnesses for attending to discuss this very serious issue. I join Deputy Munster in saying that it is an absolute disgrace that Twitter X has not agreed to participate in this meeting. All so-called social media giants have a role to play in curbing the spread of disinformation. We can talk about Garda numbers and presence all we want, and about strategy and being able to predict what happened, but disinformation, the harmful content, the incitement to hate being shared on all social media platforms contributed in a massive way to the events of a number of weeks ago. The scale of disinformation on social media outlets is out of control. We have to accept that. The scale of fake news is out of control. The scale of incitement to hatred is escalating and it is all being ramped up on social media platforms. In their opening statements, the witnesses refer to things such as the importance of a safe space, trustworthiness and about addressing harmful content with sophisticated technology. However, I have to say this is failing. It is failing to curb the spread of disinformation and incitement to hate. We are talking about multibillion euro corporations here; they have to do more. I know the witnesses mentioned the figures of the number of staff working in curbing the spread of disinformation but the companies have to do more.

I will go to Meta first. Mr. Ó Broin referred to 1,000 pieces of misinformation of the first quarter of this year.

Surely, that is only scratching the surface. Is that fair to say?