A number of the top ten social media companies in the world have major offices in Dublin including Meta, X and TikTok.
The Irish government is cracking down on online hate speech and harmful content as part of its Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill which seeks to update the 1989 Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act.
Under the proposed legislation, executives of social media companies will be held personally responsible for delays in removing hate and hostile content from their digital platforms.
The code is expected to become law in the coming months and could see companies face fines of many millions of euros for breaches.
“There needs to be a responsibility on the social media companies to take some ownership or some accountability for what’s on their platforms,” says Minister of State for Climate and Communications, James Lawless TD.
“Ultimately, they are the host, they’re generating profits from having this content up online so there needs to be some obligation on them to mind and monitor and manage what is hosted” he added.
Irish ministers threatened
The clampdown was accelerated as Irish ministers have been receiving an increase in online threats.
Ireland’s head of government Simon Harris is believed to have created a sense of urgency in clamping down on social media companies.
“We can’t have a situation where it’s seen as some kind of Wild West over there (on social media) that does not come into contact with the same laws and enforcement that (a newspaper) would – this is a form of media,” Taoiseach Simon Harris said.
Technology experts say imposing large financial fines on social media companies is likely to produce positive results in the years ahead.
“Most of the tech companies probably will honour this new code of conduct from Coimisiúin na Mean because they will have to and it’s backed up by the Digital Services Act which is an EU-wide law with very large fines,” Adrian Weckler, Technology Correspondent at the Irish Independent, said.
“There a few outliers which local politicians here in Ireland and across Europe up to and including European Commissioners have taken aim at. The notable one is X,” he added.
A number of the top ten social media companies in the world have major offices in Dublin including Meta, X and TikTok.
Ireland’s hate speech bill drew sharp criticism from the owner of X, Elon Musk, who said he would challenge the law if it passed.
Musk has also proposed to fund the legal defence of any Irish citizens that would be targeted under the new legislation.
In response, Harris said: “My concern isn’t Elon Musk or (Facebook and Meta founder) Mark Zuckerberg or whatever their name is. My concern is the protection, safety and wellbeing of people in this country.”