There has been a "heightened sense of activity" among social media platforms in response to misinformation about the conflict in Israel and Gaza, Ireland’s Digital Services Commissioner has said.
John Evans was appointed under the Digital Services Act and his role is to ensure that social media companies regulate the content on their own platforms.
He told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that under the Act, the platforms now have an obligation to create a facility where when people complain about content they can request that it be taken down for various reasons. There is then a second stage where, if they are not happy with the decision, they are entitled to an appeal.
Mr Evans added that there are also "other checks and balances" that give power to people regarding the content on the platforms.
He said a number of social media platforms have told him they are deploying crisis response teams, gathering experts with specific language skills so they can respond to posts in relation to the conflict in Gaza and Israel.
This will allow the Digital Services Commissioners across Europe to monitor if the measures are actually working and if they are having an impact, Mr Evans added.
He acknowledged that the powers of his office are presently limited as its functions have yet to be ratified under the Digital Services Act, the legislation for which is due to be passed early next year.
Because of the limited powers at present, Mr Evans' contacts with social media platforms have so far been on an informal basis. However, he denied that making a complaint would be a waste of time.
"I do think what's going on is very damaging, and misinformation and disinformation online can be used by different actors for different purposes.
"It's a problem. It becomes much more aggravated at times of crisis when we know people are seeking out news and malicious actors spot opportunities to exploit that."
Mr Evans also highlighted that the EU Commission has contacted social media platforms to remind them of their responsibilities.
"We can see from the media that there's sufficient concern to issue information requests, which I see they've done with X yesterday, and it will take time for the Commission to analyse what information has come back.
"But you'll see from the requests that have gone out to X, for example, that there's actually quite a short deadline for them to respond to that. So it's a pretty fluid situation and evolving quite quickly," Mr Evans added.
