Trolling, abusive comments and “pile-ons” of female politicians on social media platforms has had a significant chilling effect on women entering politics, the chair of the all-party Committee on Media and Communications has said.
Niamh Smyth, a Fianna Fáil TD from Cavan, has said that she herself has been left questioning her own worth as a politician, after being subjected to online abuse, sometimes directed at her solely because she is a woman.
“You get a huge online ‘pile-on’ if you say anything unpopular. It has discouraged women from coming forward to politics when they see what they are going to put themselves or their families through. [Social media] is so far reaching in terms of its reach. It has been hugely unhelpful in encouraging women into politics and journalism.”
Ms Smyth was talking at a party media event to set out Fianna Fáíl’s views on the priorities of the new Media Commission, which will regulate all media including online and social media platforms.
The group of four Fianna Fáil parliamentarians called for strong regulation, a ban on anonymous trolling, a clamp-down on abuse, and better systems to ensure online safety.
Her colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, who was himself subjected to a long-running campaign of anonymous homophobic abuse, said the “era of self-regulation for social media companies is over”.
He said the Media Commission would be one of the most powerful regulators in the State with staffing close to that of the Data Commissioner, at around 180.
“The big difference is that social media companies will be under its remit. The era of self-regulation for social media companies is over.
“We want a commission that has teeth,” he said.
Mr Byrne said there could be engineering solutions that would allow anonymous accounts, but would require social media companies – or intermediaries – to verify the person, or persons, behind the account, using validation such as a passport.
He said it was also taking far too long for social media companies to take damaging material down.
He said an example was in Germany, where holocaust denial is a crime, and Facebook was forced to remove quickly any offending material. He said half of all Facebook moderators were, as a consequence, in Germany.
He and Cork South West TD Christopher O’Sullivan highlighted concern around online safety for children saying that micro-targeting aimed at children should be banned.
Mr Byrne said he was also opposed to Facebook’s proposal of an Instagram for kids.
Ms Smyth said there had to be repercussions for tech giants, who provide platforms for abusive content. She said that the committee had heard from a content moderator of Facebook material who was exposed to “harmful content, pornography, child abuse, all of that”.
Ms Smyth said: “The response from Facebook was a bit of painting or a bit of yoga. Well if that is their attitude to their workers, that has to change,” she said.
“They have to take responsibility for what they publish. There is none of that at the moment.
“What are their community standards? If you make a complaint their standard is community standards. What I want to know is at what point is it actually breached. In my mind, there is no ceiling to that. It really is a free-for-all.
“I want to ensure we [in Ireland] are leading the charge with moderation and regulation and policing.
“It’s not to take away from people’s freedom of speech. We realise social media is a place where people get their news and views. But even so it needs to be safe and accurate.”
