A government official has stated that social media platforms and firms should bear more of the blame for the harassment that politicians face on the internet, reports RTE.
TD Fianna Fáil for the County of Limerick The Department of Further and Higher Education’s Minister for State, Niall Collins, stated that platforms “have to do a little bit better to try and control and moderate” the abuse of politicians.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr. Collins claimed he is being targeted by those who have expressed their wish that he “would die a painful death” from Covid-19 and cancer through the use of phoney accounts, reports RTE.
Mr. Collins’ remarks follow those made yesterday by departing Fine Gael Galway East TD Ciarán Cannon, who said that politics today exhibits “coarseness” and “a toxicity that was barely palpable 20 years ago.”
TD for Sinn Féin in Sligo-Leitrim Additionally, Martin Kenny told the panel that social media is to blame for the hostile political environment that politicians find themselves in.
“Things have changed and there is a certain toxicity, coarseness and aggressiveness in the political dialogue that we see happening now compared to then. I think the biggest change has been the advent of social media,” Mr Kenny said, reports RTE.
He added: “Whole conversations happen online and can be much more aggressive and coarser than what would normally happen. People feel they can say stuff on social media that they wouldn’t say to your face. But now that has changed too, and people are actually starting to say things to your face,” reports RTE.
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