Disinformation a risk to democracy, Ryan tells Green Party conference 

Trolling and online abuse is dissuading people from running for political office and disinformation is twisting truths, Eamon Ryan said at the Green Party conference in Cork over the weekend

Environment Minister and leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan gets a standing ovation as he enters the Green Party annual conference at the City Hall in Cork. Picture: David Creedon

Disinformation and trolling online are now “a risk to democracy” in Ireland, the Green Party leader has said.

Trolling and online abuse is dissuading some people from running for political office and disinformation is obfuscating and twisting truths, Eamon Ryan said at the Green Party conference in Cork over the weekend.

“There's a risk to our democracy at the moment,” Mr Ryan said.

“Not just in the abusive side of it, in terms of people being dissuaded from running, but also, where's the truth?

“Someone said to me the other day, 'I want the truth, not the facts.'"

Social media is fundamentally polarizing by its design, Mr Ryan said.

It feeds people the same content that they already believe in, that's designed that way to keep your attention so they can sell you advertising. And in that, you just get a polarized world where it reconfirms your prejudices.

 He added that online anonymity allows “brave keyboard warriors” to attack people who “might want change”. “I don't ever look down at my Twitter feed,” he said.

Abuse online can be organsied, amplifying the impacts of that abuse, he said.

“And that does impact the ability to effect change, […] the public's sense of what's true and what's not.

“So it is a real issue.” But people are going to push back, to “show passive stubborn resistance” to increasing online abuse and disinformation, he said.

“You can do that by going door to door [canvassing]," he said.

"Politics still is a great redeeming feature. It's a democratic constitutional engagement with the citizens. Direct engagement gets around all that [online disinformation]. People at the door are so much nicer than they are online.” 

Proper funding of journalism is one way to fight disinformation, he said.

“I think it's one of the main antidotes,” he said. “I have a son who's just gone into journalism."

“Brave man, could you raise a family on the incomes that people get in journalism these days, going into it? You could 20 years ago, 30 years ago. I’m not too sure you can today."

“And I think that's an issue that we need to address as part of our democratic structures and systems."

Although disinformation and a polarized, partisan media in Ireland is not as big a problem as in other countries, Ireland is still "not immune."

We don't have Fox News. We don't have GBTV. By and large, our media's served us well.

Minister for Media, Catherine Martin, said that combatting disinformation is about protecting high quality journalism and protecting and promoting public service media.

People need access to reliable information and that would be aided by the introduction of the new Media Commission and the EU’s Digital Services Act.

A national strategy is also being developed to counter disinformation, she said.

Media literacy is also key, with a web-wise programme teaching school children about online dangers and disinformation, teaching about reliable, fact-checking sources and “helping people to get the truth.” 

“It's happening here, and it's happening in the EU, and it needs to work, because I think it is a real threat to democracy — disinformation, and misinformation.

“We've seen it only this week, trying to get to the bottom of the explosion at the hospital in Gaza.

“Where is the truth in that?”