John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Nelson Murray for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan.

Disinformation and misinformation are complex issues that can have wide-ranging effects on society and democracy as a whole. I will begin by highlighting the key difference between "disinformation" and "misinformation". While both terms refer to false or misleading content that may cause harm, we refer to "disinformation" as misleading content that is shared with the intention of deceiving others, while "misinformation" is misleading content that is mostly shared in good faith.

In terms of disinformation, it is a serious and complex challenge that requires a whole-of-society approach. This was recognised by the Future of Media Commission when it recommended the development of a national counter disinformation strategy. The strategy was developed by an independently chaired multi-stakeholder working group and was published on 17 April this year.

Due to the complexity of disinformation as a challenge, the strategy aims to connect key stakeholders across multiple sectors and facilitate enhanced co-operation and collaboration in our efforts to counter disinformation. The strategy highlights education in particular as having an important role in giving people the skills to recognise false material and help to prevent its dissemination. Media and digital literacy initiatives should be seen alongside the promotion of public interest information in this regard. One example of such an initiative is the Be Media Smart campaign led by Media Literacy Ireland, which encourages people to stop, think and check that the information they are consuming is reliable. Together, these initiatives can contribute to building resilience in society to the threats posed by this kind of manipulation of our democracy.

The strategy acknowledges the importance of information integrity, and the role to be played by the media and public institutions when it comes to maintaining a healthy information environment. It sets out clear actions to promote trust in the media, as well as supporting media pluralism and freedom. Furthermore, the strategy includes a commitment to strengthen public communications and trust in public institutions.

We need to learn more about disinformation in order to better counter it, so it is to be welcomed that, in line with the programme for Government, €1.1 million in funding was announced in budget 2026 to support media literacy, fact-checking and research initiatives. Legislation and regulation are absolutely vital to minimise the availability of harmful and illegal content, including disinformation. Ireland's emerging online safety framework is designed to address this challenge, and Coimisiún na Meán, as Ireland's new online safety and media regulator, is at the heart of that framework. It was established under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act. The OSMR Act is one of three main elements of the framework, alongside the EU Digital Services Act, under which an coimisiún is Ireland's digital services co-ordinator, and the EU terrorist content online regulation, under which an coimisiún is a competent authority.

As Ireland's digital services co-ordinator under the Digital Services Act, Coimisiún na Meán works with the European Commission, which is the lead regulator under the Digital Services Act for the largest platforms, to ensure that they reduce the risk of harm posed to users of their services. Alongside this, since July, it has supported the implementation of the binding code of conduct on disinformation in Ireland.

The European Commission has commenced a range of investigations into various platforms for potential breaches of their regulatory obligations, including around harmful content, dark patterns and other matters.

An coimisiún is raising awareness of its own role in implementing Ireland's online safety framework and of the importance of reporting harmful content. An coimisiún has a youth advisory committee which ensures that the views of young people are also heard. Oide Technology in Education, which operates under the aegis of the Department of Education and Youth, upskills and trains teachers and educators on online safety issues.

Last week, Commissioner McGrath announced details of the EU democracy shield, which includes the establishment of a European centre for democratic resilience. Ireland stands ready to collaborate with other member states and realise the objectives set out in the EU democracy shield.

I do not underestimate the challenges that are ahead, as the Senator rightly pointed out. The online space is a very complex world that has positives but most certainly has negatives too.