Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending and for their evidence. I apologise, as I will have to leave. I am due to speak in the Dáil, but I will stay for as long as I can. This is a large area and I have quite an interest in it. Hands up, I do not know a great deal about it, but I am trying to read myself into it and learn as much as I can. I will ask a couple of questions and, if I get a chance, I will contribute again.

I wish to ask about an coimisiún’s role and the role of the European Commission in tackling disinformation, that is, deliberate misinformation. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in recent months, there has been a growing apprehension about the potential unintended repercussions of the EU’s Digital Services Act, particularly on the digital rights of Palestinians and other vulnerable minorities. Online information is taken down amid accusations that it constitutes harmful content or disinformation, a complaint is opened, the original takedown is proven illegitimate and invalid, and the content is put back up. This can happen in a one-sided way and can result in the unjust removal of legitimate content by hiding behind the claim that it breaches the DSA when that may not be the case. This happened recently. I am not sure whether Dr. Evans is familiar with the “Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning” podcast, but a social media post with a clip from one of its episodes regarding the war in Palestine was removed following an accusation of disinformation and harmful content. Mr. Brolly and Mr. Fanning contested this and it was proved that what they had posted was factual and fair. There was a rush to take the content down and the EU DSA was cited, but the content was factual and fair.

I expressed a concern when we were debating the legislation. It is not that I do not believe there is good intent behind the legislation – there is – but I am concerned that the Act could be used and applied with bias. The interpretation of what constitutes disinformation can have a political element to it. This is a real concern. What will An Coimisiún na Meán do to protect against that type of bias and to advocate at European level against political bias? It is a tricky area, but we have seen cases. I cited that example because it was fairly high profile – one of the people involved is a barrister and someone of significant repute capable of taking the case – but there was an obvious political slant to the content being taken down. What can be done to tackle this issue and ensure that, where there is the potential for political bias to be applied, the law is used to ensure that does not happen?