Dr. Rosemary Day:

Ms Ní Cheallaigh's point was about whether it would be possible in some way, shape or form, even by using different words, for social media posts to be regulated in the same way that publications are treated. That would deal with a lot of it. On traceability and identifiability, the name of the person would not necessarily have to be on the post, but the social media platform would take action immediately. That is part of the difficulty, as members have all experienced. People get these abusive posts and things that are proven to be absolutely false but are not taken down, even though the platform recognises that they are such. We had that with Twitter just recently. There is a need for stronger regulations and stronger laws from EU to national level. There is also a need for education that is particularly strong in the media literacy part, so people are more critical of the news they consume, are looking for different sources and cross-checking, as well as more strengthened funding being given to community media as a third pillar and balance to the other forces.