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On 30 January 2020, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) rejected nine complaints regarding RTÉ Investigates: Running for their Lives, a current affairs programme broadcast on RTÉ One on 26 June 2019. The investigative programme focused on welfare issues within the Irish greyhound industry and examined, in detail, the implications of an expert report, commissioned by the governing body for greyhound racing in Ireland, the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB). The programme reported that the expert report detailed that up to 6 000 dogs may be culled per year because they do not perform...

On 10 January 2020, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton TD, published the general scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2019 (hereinafter ‘the Bill’). The purpose of the Bill is to create new online safety laws to bring legislation up to date with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) which governs the EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media, which concerns both traditional TV broadcasts and on-demand services. The proposed Bill will establish an Online Safety Commissioner as...

On 19 December 2019, Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe (AG) delivered his opinion in the high-profile case Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited (Schrems II), on whether the use of standard contractual clauses can constitute a valid legal basis for transferring and processing personal data outside of the European Union. The AG opined that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) should consider standard contractual clauses as a valid mechanism for the transfer of personal data abroad. Previously, in Schrems, the CJEU had declared the Commission’s ‘safe...

On 24 October 2019, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Charles Flanagan, launched a public consultation process on hate speech. The consultation forms a crucial part of the review of the relevant law in this area – namely, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 – and aims to ensure that Ireland’s legislation on hate speech is fit for purpose and is effective in meeting the real needs of communities and individuals who experience the impact of hate speech.  The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 prohibits certain forms of threatening, abusive or...

On 17 September 2019, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) published a research report on political social media advertisements. The ElectCheck 2019 research report was commissioned by the BAI and undertaken by the Institute for Future Media and Journalism (FuJo) at Dublin City University. The research examined the political advertising activity on Facebook, Twitter and Google during the European elections in May 2019, in the context of the platforms’ commitments in the self-regulatory Code of Practice on Disinformation to address the spread of online disinformation and fake news....