Electoral disinformation powers unlikely to be in place for presidential election

ast November, NGO Global Witness found that TikTok approved ads containing explicit disinformation about Ireland’s general election, including one ad that claimed that people need proof of covid vaccines to vote. Picture: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Laws from 2022 that allow the Electoral Commission to use "very strong" powers to compel social media companies to deal with disinformation affecting elections are unlikely to be in place for the presidential election.

The absence of the powers, significantly delayed due to European Commission concerns, is a source of significant concern among security agencies.