The global Government Affairs team for the social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, has sharply contradicted Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, saying her claim that the platform did not cooperate with Gardaí to remove inflammatory content during the Dublin riots is “inaccurate”.
The Minister had told the Dáil that she had been told “very clearly” by a detective that while companies like Meta and Tiktok were responding to Gardaí and engaging with them to remove “vile” social media posts as they arose X was not.
“X were not,” she claimed. “X were not. They didn’t engage. They did not fulfill their own community standards.”
She said “that is why” the government wanted to move to a situation were these companies “do not get to self-monitor”, adding that “Coimisiún na Meán had been established to make sure that these companies are held responsible” because “while some were responsible, others were not”.
However, X has now hit back, posting that the Minister’s claims in the Dáil were “inaccurate” and that they had “proactively taken action on more than 1,230 pieces of content under our rules relating to the riots”.
The Government Affairs team for X said that they “met with the Coimisiún na Meán on November 24 [the day after the riots] to discuss our response”.
They added that “The Gardaí did not make any formal requests to us until late Monday 27th November. We responded promptly. The only appeal we have received from the Gardai relating to the enforcement of our rules is for a single post.”
“We hope the Minister will clarify her remarks,” they added.
This is inaccurate. We have proactively taken action on more than 1,230 pieces of content under our rules relating to the riots.
We met with the Coimisiún na Meán on November 24 to discuss our response. The Gardai did not make any formal requests to us until late Monday 27th… https://t.co/nHGMDg45Mu
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) December 4, 2023
The Minister said last weekly that she would seek a meeting with X after the disturbances in Dublin. The Department has been contacted for comment.