Bid to take down fake videos and images of garda response to fuel protests
False viral information, much of it being generated abroad, is on a scale ‘never seen before’ in Ireland
Meanwhile, Aidan O’Brien, an analyst at the European Digital Media Observatory Ireland at Dublin City University (DCU), has been monitoring how the far-right in Ireland and abroad reacted to the fuel blockades. He said a “disinformation economy” went into full swing during last week’s protests.
He uncovered conspiracy theories about the energy crisis and talk of “the great shutdown”, which were already in heavy circulation on Irish social media by the middle of March.
“When the protests erupted, Irish right-wing social media influencers went into overdrive posting video content. Many of these influencers benefit from features introduced on the platforms, like algorithm promotion, and have monetised their accounts,” he explained.
“There is now a disinformation economy. Influencers know the most dramatic footage, alongside the most sensational framing, will go viral, generating income. They aren’t just promoting this footage and their narratives because it suits their agenda, they’re making money doing so.”
After that international far-right influencers pounced on the content, he said. “Nearly immediately, and often within minutes of the initial videos being posted, it was downloaded and repackaged by influencers outside Ireland.
“It happened so quickly that you might assume these people are heavily immersed in the situation, but they’re chasing the content, and the story, often repackaging footage with false claims that the protest was about migration.
“This happens because over the last five years our disinformation ecology has become exponentially complex and is fully integrated with the international far-right disinformation ecosystem.”
Ireland has now become a “major focus of attention” for the international hard-right, he said.
Canadian far-right influencer Ezra Levant travelled to Ireland last week as did Kevin Posobiec, whose brother Jack is an American far-right political activist and social media personality. Both filmed content while here.
The fact both men…
![The fact both men were willing to “jump on a plane” said a lot, added Mr O’Brien.
“The foreign attention and amplification of these protests are concerning…Our Government needs to start demanding real accountability and action from these [social media] companies…
“If the Minister [for Communications Patrick O’Donovan] is concerned about ‘lopsided coverage’ of the protests, he shouldn’t be worried about the radio but look at social media.”
On Friday, Minister O’Donovan admitted he made a “hames” of his call for a “review” into broadcast media coverage of fuel protests. He said, “in hindsight”, he should not have suggested that the media regulator — Coimisiún na Meán — should “review” both local and national broadcast coverage of the fuel protests.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:soimfvdqqoieabdpxtlt3mxz/bafkreifhphtz5fx6kn2dmopshfztyb7nsgqf56e5nyhzi3znv2glxhldha)
The fact both men were willing to “jump on a plane” said a lot, added Mr O’Brien.
“The foreign attention and amplification of these protests are concerning…Our Government needs to start demanding real accountability and action from these [social media] companies…
“If the Minister [for Communications Patrick O’Donovan] is concerned about ‘lopsided coverage’ of the protests, he shouldn’t be worried about the radio but look at social media.”
On Friday, Minister O’Donovan admitted he made a “hames” of his call for a “review” into broadcast media coverage of fuel protests. He said, “in hindsight”, he should not have suggested that the media regulator — Coimisiún na Meán — should “review” both local and national broadcast coverage of the fuel protests.
I spoke to the Sindo about the unprecedented scale of disinformation we witnessed during the fuel protests & the disinformation economy. It's not enough to get this content removed post-hoc; we need to hold the platforms accountable for promoting disinformation & hate speech.
archive.ph/AOVHC
