Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 June 2024

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

State Response to Online Disinformation and Media and Digital Literacy: Discussion

1:30 pm

Mr. Jeremy Godfrey:

All the platforms that have users in the EU are bound by the Digital Services Act, whether they are headquartered in Ireland or anywhere else. We in Ireland have to uphold the rights not just of Irish users but of users across the EU. I do not believe it is controversial to name the platforms that are not based in Ireland. Snapchat snappies are regulated out of the Netherlands. Telegram is regulated out of Belgium. Some of the adult platforms are based in Cyprus or Slovenia. The European Commission also has a role in dealing with the larger platforms. Everybody has the same rights. The platforms are obliged to make reporting mechanisms available. If an Irish citizen or someone who is based in Ireland is not getting satisfaction, he or she can complain to us. If it is not a company we regulate, there is a network of digital service co-ordinators across Europe and we have a mechanism for referring complaints from one to another. That is getting up and running now. Not every member state has a digital services co-ordinator yet but, when that is all up and running, the mutual co-operation arrangements should make it unimportant to users in Ireland whether the platform with which they have a grievance is based here or elsewhere in Europe.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.