The Irish official in charge of enforcing the Digital Services Act has admitted he was unfamiliar with the term “mal-information” when asked about it by a Senator, appearing visibly confused.
“Mal-information” is a widely-used term in European Union policy circles and other state-backed bodies dealing with online regulation. It refers to information that is factually true but shared in a way considered allegedly “harmful”.
The exchange took place on Wednesday at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, where Digital Services Commissioner John Evans was questioned by Independent Senator Ronan Mullen.
Evans is the State official tasked with implementing and enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Ireland – the sweeping EU law that imposes strict obligations on tech giants like Meta, Google, and TikTok, and designates Coimisiún na Meán as Ireland’s regulator. A core component of the DSA is combating “misinformation” and related topics.
Asked if his organisation had any role in policing “mal-information,” Evans replied: “I have not heard that term before.”
He added: “But if I understand the way the Senator describes it, it sounds like a particular type of misinformation and disinformation.”
Mullen pressed him on whether the commission considered accurate but potentially inflammatory information part of its brief, noting that Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan had defended tackling “misinformation, disinformation and mal-information” as part of the Government’s National Counter Disinformation Strategy.
“Let us say one had information that was true but likely to cause annoyance, unrest or hostility,” Mullen said.
“It could be about crime statistics and particular cohorts…It would not be misinformation or disinformation.”
Evans replied that categorising information was difficult, and argued such material could still be treated as a risk under the DSA.
“I have seen a lot of attempts to categorise in a scientific way different ways to present truthful or untruthful information and it is very difficult,” he said.
“They overlap, they do not overlap, the context changes and suddenly there is a new category of information.”
He added: “I would push back a little back and say I think that malinformation is still a kind of mis- or disinformation and, as such, it could get caught as a systemic risk issue under the Digital Services Act.
“The more sophisticated and distant you go from illegal content, the harder it is to make those calls and trying to always maintain that balance of freedom of expression.”
Responding on social media after the fact, Senator Mullen said: “Even if information on social media is accurate and true, it appears it may still fall foul of the regulator. In the context of elections this is a worrying consideration, and public vigilance is required.”
Evans was appointed as Digital Services Commissioner in July 2023. With over 20 years’ experience in competition and consumer regulation, he is responsible for co-ordinating Ireland’s enforcement of the DSA, building links with European regulators, and overseeing procedures such as awarding “trusted flagger” status to organisations.
The Government’s National Counter Disinformation Strategy, published in April, has proven highly controversial.
Of the 470 submissions received during the Government’s own public consultation, 83% opposed the plan outright, with the vast majority warning it would amount to censorship. Only 11% of respondents backed it, with many of them being government departments, NGOs, or other state-funded organisations.
Minister O’Donovan has defended the policy, saying citizens need access to information from “trusted sources” rather than “gossip” spread online.
The Department of Communications has adopted the EU DisinfoLab’s definition of mal-information as “information that is based on reality but is used to harm or threaten a person, an organisation, or a country” – i.e. information that is true.