Twitter did not engage with Gardaí following riots says McEntee

Twitter did not engage with Gardaí in relation to content posted on the site during last Thursday’s riot. 

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee told the Dáil on Wednesday that “some social media companies were responsible during the events last Thursday, while others were not.”

“I spoke to a detective in Pearse Street on Saturday who was actively engaged with the social media companies throughout Thursday, who was actively engaged with TikTok, Meta, or Instagram and Facebook, and Twitter or X,” McEntee said.

“She said very clearly that social media companies, in particular TikTok and Meta, they were responding, engaging with Gardaí and taking down these vile posts as they came up. Twitter were not. They didn’t engage. They did not fulfil their own community standards.”

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October 2022, more than half of the site’s content moderation staff were laid off in a bid to cut costs.

In March of this year, the European Union issued a warning to Musk who instructed him to hire more content moderators and stop relying on automation to handle user complaints.

In the aftermath of the riots, a number of Dublin politicians called for social media sites to be held accountable for facilitating content that was in breach of terms of service.

On Tuesday, sports star Conor McGregor was reported to have been placed under Garda investigation for “alleged incitement” during the riots.

Green Party MEP Ciáran Cuffe said “people in positions of power and privilege such as Conor McGregor should reflect on how their social media postings may have contributed to what happened on Dublin’s streets.”

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick said that social media companies that “facilitated incitement to violence” must be held accountable for their roles in the incident.

“The power of these platforms to influence and promote public discord cannot be ignored.”

“It is imperative that the platform operators take responsibility for their role in the events that transpired,” she said.