Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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271. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the discussions he or his Department has had with the social media companies based here regarding widespread concerns about the dissemination of fake news and hate speech; if he has outlined to such companies the absolute need to reduce as far as practicable the abuse of social media platforms in this regard, if he has received assurances from those companies that they will take responsibility to ensure that their platforms are not being used to spread malicious content; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2422/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am aware that the dissemination of so-called "fake news" through social media and other online platforms is currently a matter of widespread concern. While my officials regularly engage with companies which provide social media and other online services, no specific discussions have been held on the topic of so-called "fake news".

An effective, proportionate and appropriate response to this issue would require international co-operation and agreement and my Department continues to monitor developments in other EU Member States along with the work of the Council of Europe in this area.

Matters relating to illegal online content, including illegal hate speech, are a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality.

That said, I can confirm that, in May 2016 Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft agreed with the European Commission a Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech. This code of conduct includes a number of public commitments, including that the four companies are to have clear and effective processes in place to review notifications regarding illegal online hate speech with dedicated teams to review notifications.