Oireachtas Committee writes to social media platforms in relation to acts of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine

Committee Chair Deputy Niamh Smyth said: “The Committee recognises and values both the right to freedom of expression and the importance of access to trustworthy information in a democratic society.

“The Committee acknowledge too efforts undertaken to date across platforms to address the spread of mis- or dis-information relating to the deeply disturbing events unfolding in Ukraine.”

Deputy Smyth asked the social media platforms and other online services to do all that can be done to ensure the monitoring, moderating and swift removal of material that promotes mis- or dis-information or material that could incite violence.

The Committee called for the platforms to take immediate action and review all necessary algorithms, particularly the search and recommendation algorithms, to prevent the misuse of the platforms to spread harmful mis- or dis-information which stand against democracy.

The Deputy added: “The Committee calls once more on all platforms to fulfil their social responsibility towards both platform users and society in general to enforce any applicable community standards to this end.”

The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.