Watchdog to police online terrorist content

The commitment was issued in May after the terrorist attack last March on two mosques in New Zealand, resulting in the death of 51 people. The atrocity was livestreamed by Brenton Tarrant and went viral.

A powerful watchdog will be set up in Ireland with the authority to demand online platforms take down terrorist content, under Government plans to implement a forthcoming EU directive.

The Department of Justice said the regulation would oblige service providers to comply with orders to remove content within a specified timeframe and to “proactively” take measures to protect their platforms from terrorist content.