The besieged Minister for Justice McEntee told the Dáil on Wednesday that Gardaí had been engaging in real time with social media organisations seeking the removal of hate messages.
Many of the pointed messages appeared to incite hatred and violence while calling for criminal acts from members of Ireland’s apparent far-right movement in the midst of the rioting on Dublin’s streets last Thursday.
Minister McEntee rejected suggestions from Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell that Gardaí were not across social media messaging from apparent trouble makers.
“They were actively engaging with TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, or X,” the minister told the Dáil.
She added: “They were taking down their vile messages. X were not. They did not engage. They did not fulfil their own customer standards.”
Some social media companies were responsive to Garda requests, “others were not,” she said.
On individual Gardaí using WhatsApp to alert each other, she said WhatsApp groups were organised and it was one of the quickest ways of communicating.
