The Irish Government has said it intends to target so-called “mal-information” — information that is factually true, but deemed “harmful” — as part of its new National Counter Disinformation Strategy.
This week, Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan defended the move in an exchange with Gript, insisting that the Government must ensure citizens have access to what it considers “trusted sources” of news.
“I think within the world that we live in at the moment, it is important that the public, the citizens have access to information that they know is from a trusted source,” he said, adding that too much of what circulates online amounts to mere “gossip.”
The National Disinformation Strategy, published in April, was preceded by a public consultation in 2023. Of the 470 submissions received, 83% opposed the plan outright, with many respondents warning of censorship and threats to free speech. Only 11% supported the proposals — many of these from state-funded bodies, NGOs, and government departments. Despite this overwhelming opposition, the Government pressed ahead.
Minister O’Donovan dismissed criticism that the consultation had been ignored, saying the priority was ensuring “what passes for news is actually news, [and] what passes for fiction is actually fiction.” He argued the strategy would help support traditional media, including the public service broadcaster and commercial outlets, as well as fund training pathways for young journalists.
Asked specifically about the definition of “mal-information,” a spokesperson for the Department of Communications pointed to the EU DisinfoLab’s wording: “information that is based on reality but is used to harm or threaten a person, an organisation, or a country.”
This would naturally include factual information that is deemed allegedly “harmful” to society overall.
Notably, in 2022, when a video of then-Tánaiste Leo Varadkar kissing a man in a nightclub went viral online, then-Taoiseach Micheál Martin described it as an invasion of privacy — and used the incident to call for stricter regulation of social media, despite the video being authentic.