Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are supporting this legislation. As it states, it is about ensuring a safe, predictable and trusted online environment for people who use social media and the Internet in general. We all recognise the huge advantages that have come from the advent of online platforms and media and how much people have information at their fingertips. My mother, who is 91, often picks up the phone and looks on Google to find out about something she has seen on television. We are all quite amused that someone of her age can still use this technology to enhance her life. Many people do so. I recently spoke to a man who told me he regularly phones his son in Australia on WhatsApp. This man is also in his 90s. It has made connection around the world tremendously positive, and that needs to be said. However, there is also a very dark side to it, and that is why we need such advanced regulation.

The major issue is disinformation and the spreading of all kinds of untruths, lies and far-fetched stories. At the same time, if the stories are told often enough and enough people share them, they become valid and people start to believe them and spread them. That is the issue we have. There needs to be a certain accountability on the part of the platforms, such as X, Twitter and Facebook, most of which are headquartered in Ireland and have a role to play here. Therefore, as legislators in this jurisdiction, there is an added onus on us to ensure we get this right.

We also have to look at the people spreading the disinformation. It is not just the platforms on which it is spread. Somebody had to sit at a keyboard and write down the disinformation for it to be spread. They also need to be held to account. Very often they can hide behind anonymous accounts. This legislation also needs to look at that, try to get behind that and try to hold to account the individuals who spread such often dangerous disinformation that can cause not just difficulty for people but can incite violence, hatred and fear. We are all aware of the short distance from fear to hatred. This legislation goes some way towards dealing with that.

We also need to look at the issue of fraud and the fact that so many people can be so easily duped out of their money while using these online platforms. We all use them to buy items online and yet we do not have the same validity. We do not pick up the item and carry it off with us out of the shop as we do if we go shopping somewhere else. We have to wait for it to be delivered, and when it does not show up, all of a sudden we discover we have been defrauded out of our money. That happens far too often. There is also the issue of access being gained to people's accounts. We need to have very trusted platforms to do all of this. Sometimes they can be mimicked and used in a very aggressive way, and many people can be caught out by them.

The legislation is valid but it needs a lot more work to strengthen it, make it better and ensure it delivers for people.

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