Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media meet for engagement on Online Safety, online disinformation and media literacy

The meeting in 2 sessions will hear from representatives from:

Session 1

• Meta
• TikTok
• Google Ireland

Session 2

• Finnish Audiovisual Institute (KAVI)

Speaking ahead of the meeting Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Niamh Smyth TD said “Our meeting tomorrow will allow our Committee the opportunity to engage in detail with some of the major social media providers. We realise the importance of the continued scrutiny and oversight of these companies.

“We intend to get a clear indication into what the social media companies attending tomorrow are planning and more importantly implementing in order to provide users with accurate information and news.  Our engagement with these companies will allow them to demonstrate how they are actively leading in the eradication of the very prevalent false information and clickbait style content among users of their platforms.

“Under the EU's new online safety rules, the Digital Services Act (DSA), social media companies will be obliged to share more information about how their algorithms work. Ireland will play a leading role in policing the DSA because so many of the tech giants have their European headquarters here.

“In the second session we will meet with the Finnish Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) which provides and promotes media education and media literacy in Finland. We will analyse their approach to media literacy and how they utilise encompassing skills to comprehend and analyse media, create media, and engage in a secure and responsible manner in media environments.”

The meeting at 1:30pm can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.  

Read more about the work done by The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media  

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.