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

On content moderation, in his submission, Dr. Evans mentions "resolving disputes relating to content moderation decisions by online platforms, without requiring users to enter a costly or lengthy legal dispute." The Chair will be aware that I have raised the issue of content moderators on a number of occasions. Many of these large platforms have outsourced the job of content moderation. In his submission, Dr. Evans highlights how important content moderators are. Does he believe it is acceptable that they are very often the lowest paid within these companies and that their roles have been outsourced? In some instances, they have been outsourced and then outsourced again. These people are essentially the front-line defenders. I have spoken about them many times. They see the things we do not want to see, things that we should never see and that nobody should ever do.

Does Dr. Evans have a view on the necessity of keeping the function of content moderation close to the company? I have a workers' rights concern in this regard but I will put it to one side for the minute because I know it is not why Dr. Evans is here. However, I also have a concern that these really important health and safety front-line defenders' function is not just being outsourced but outsourced again so that it can be kept at arm's length from these large platforms. I am not asking Dr. Evans to comment on the workers' rights aspect but on how it works to have that really essential function not just at arm's length from the company, but at arm's length from the company that is at arm's length from the company. These functions have been outsourced and then, in some instances, outsourced again so they are twice-removed from the platforms. Does Dr. Evans have a view as to the optimal way to do it or how it is best managed? Should they be close to or part of the set-up? Is he content with the outsourcing? Does he have a view on the matter?