Social media companies must remove online threats against politicians immediately - McEntee

Social media companies have a responsibility to take down online threats against politicians “immediately, without question”, The Minister for Justice has said.

Helen McEntee was speaking after it emerged Gardaí are investigating a threat against the Taoiseach Simon Harris and his family that was posted on Instagram over the weekend.

The threat reportedly referred to a weapon and threatened violence against Mr Harris and his wife and children.

It is understood the threat remained online for at least two days after Gardaí asked Instagram owner Meta to remove it.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, McEntee said it was "absolutely appalling" that any kind of a threat would be made against the Taoiseach, "but in particular that his wife and children would also be included in that threat."

"Whether it's a threat made online or in person it's no less serious nor is it taken any less seriously," the minister added.

Meta, the company which owns Instagram, has now removed the content for violating its policies and is investigating.

In a statement yesterday, the Taoiseach said he would not be deterred from doing his job – and warned that there can be “no hiding place for anyone seeking to threaten, attack or harm people or to incite others to do so”.

On the approach by social media companies to handling threats, Ms McEntee said that the era of self-regulation is over.

She said Ireland is now one of the few countries to have an online safety commissioner and their role and sole focus is to make sure that where there is harmful and illegal content online, that social media companies "play their part and where they don't, that there are serious penalties imposed."

She added that Coimisiún na Meán has been established recently and is working through a code of practice, which will be finalised or fully implemented by the end of the year.

The minister said that gardaí do work closely with social media companies and that while there has been engagement, more remains to be done.

She highlighted that one challenge in making complaints to such companies is that the complaint may not meet a certain threshold.

"We need to make sure through these codes of conduct that where a certain threshold has been met...where something is very clearly a crime, to threaten someone online, it is just as serious as doing it in person, so it shouldn’t be taking social media companies any length of time to take down something that is clearly identified as a criminal offence."