Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting presentation. I will start on the political thing. I am interested to know how they define protecting electoral integrity. It seems to me that deliberative democracy, which a lot of us are used to, is challenged by social media. Outrage is the most saleable product and it spreads virally by the systems they have in place. On top of that, some states believe digital technology is a tool to exercise power against democracies. How does Coimisiún na Meán see itself regulating bots and foreign agents seeking to subvert democracy? What standard is it applying? You look at the US and see freedom of expression á la US, where things certainly close to hate are not only said but reproduced, and not only on social media but on broadcasting channels. Where is it pitching this line on freedom of expression? The witnesses rightly say it is not easy to define, but there are certainly extremes that seem to rule on social media that are not acceptable. Because it is different from print media they do not take any responsibility. It is designed to send viral things that are outrageous. That is basically its modus operandi. I would be interested to her more about that.

I have a number of questions. Digital technology and social media platforms can be used for all sorts of things that can be described as high stakes like job interviews and insurance quotations. We will see algorithms doing this selection process. How do the witnesses intend to prevent them having the inherent biases or learnt biases of big datasets that are already prejudiced? It would be interesting to hear how that is, because it is a concern. How do they propose to change these shallow consent and accept buttons that we hit? As I understand it they are now changing. What happens to all of the pre-existing consents? Does everyone have to start all over again? Where is that? This consent is not really consent at all. People do not read any of the small print. It is not really relevant. When it comes to profiling people, not just in the political area, but for profiling and selling, what principles do the witnesses apply for what is acceptable and unacceptable? Profiling is at the heart of what is done, and then bombarding and finding the capsules in which people circulate. Are principles applied? I know they say children cannot be profiled, which is okay. Are the rest of us sort of on our own? What falls to the EU and what falls to Coimisiún na Meán? Thirteen of the 22 platforms are headquartered here and we are overseeing them. It would be crucial how we are perceived as to what falls to us. The final issue is that this seems extraordinarily complicated work. We are checking if software packages are inherently biased or checking how algorithms are put together. Are they equipped to challenge that level of investigation if it comes to it? If it becomes apparent that there are inbuilt biases, do they have the capacity to unpick that or how will it be handled?