Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all welcome the creation of Coimisiún na Meán and the necessity of an online safety code. We all want the Digital Services and Digital Marketing Acts in operation. We know that not only individual states like ourselves have to take action; we also need to see the European Commission take action.

Let us be clear. Whether we are talking about X, Meta or TikTok, as Deputy Smith mentioned, they involve algorithms that are optimised to make money for these companies. They make money by keeping people online. What keeps people online is not necessarily healthy, whether that relates to eating disorders, in particular in young women, or some of the hate that is out there. Companies are happy enough to take money and leave threats online for ages. They seem to have no difficulty with throwing out stuff that is nutcase conspiracy stuff such as the great replacement theory. People might say that there are issues in respect of how this State and others manage migration, but somebody might think a worldwide conspiracy is being organised on a huge level. Unfortunately, what has happened with algorithms and confirmation bias means that social media is a really unhealthy place for an awful lot of people. This is being facilitated by these companies. Until such point in time that they are held to account at a senior level and have to pay big money, none of this is going to change. We need a timeline on that. It is not good enough and it is impacting on democracy across the board.

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