Irish Examiner View: Freedom of speech is essential for democracy
Denying the existence of different points of view is the very opposite of democracy. Picture: File
The commission is currently hearing the case of Courtney Carey, a former Irish employee of Israeli tech firm Wix Online Platforms, which employs around 500 people at its Dublin office.
After calling Israel “a terrorist state” on social media, Ms Carey was fired from her job for alleged gross misconduct. She has claimed she feels “blacklisted” from working in the tech sector over the controversy.
For its part, Wix CEO and president Nir Zohar said the company decided to part ways with an employee after it had been inundated with screenshots of Ms Carey’s social media post, by Israeli employees.
This is an ongoing case in which the WRC is examining procedures and practices, not debating Israel’s conduct in Gaza; even Ms Carey’s solicitor has stated that the WRC is “not a forum for a discussion about international affairs”.
However, when the matter first came to public attention last October, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it would be “unacceptable” for someone to be fired for having an individual viewpoint.
“We live in a democracy here; we tolerate debate, with freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues,” he said.
The WRC heard this week that Wix has already admitted its dismissal of Ms Carey was “procedurally unfair”, which is likely to help the commission reach a swift decision.
However, the Tánaiste’s point about viewpoints needs to be heard across the political spectrum. It is surely a cornerstone of a functioning democracy that individuals are free to express political opinions without fear of reprisal. Denying the existence of different points of view is the very opposite of democracy.
If those different opinions are not allowed, then we are entering a zone in which thought is being policed and punished.
Yesterday, readers saw a timely warning from the US surgeon general, Vivek H Murthy, about the dangers faced by children using social media.
“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” Dr Murthy wrote in .
He added that research shows adolescents spending three hours a day on social media have double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.
By coincidence, the Economic and Social Research Institute published a report here this week about gambling. It also focused on the vulnerability of young people.
The report found that those who gamble as children are almost twice as likely to have a gambling problem later in life — compared to people who are not exposed directly to gambling in their youth.
The report’s findings supported regulatory measures in order to reduce the risk of children developing problem gambling habits in later life.
Examples? Bans on children gambling or entering gambling premises, websites, or apps as well as strict age-verification safeguards for online gambling platforms.
Taken together, these two challenges show not only that some problems in later life can have their roots in childhood use of online platforms, but that those very childhoods can also be marred in real time by social media.
This is a toxic combination of circumstances that can only be opposed by any reasonable person, and the proposals mentioned are clearly aimed at improving the quality of life of children and adolescents.
Yet those positive intentions are all for nought if online platforms and social media companies are not interested in adhering to any proposed changes. Experience suggests that companies content to scrape personal data are unlikely to be motivated to take any action which may restrict use of their websites and apps.
Such organisations are far more interested in profit than protection, and we will see little improvement until that outlook changes fundamentally.
The RSA stated that, since 2021, there have been six cases where there was a “query about the candidate’s identity” and a test did not go ahead as planned. It added that there was one suspected case of impersonation in 2021, four in 2022, and one last year, but none have been reported so far in 2024.
This is not a significant number of impersonations by any means. There is no suggestion that the validity of the testing system or of drivers’ licences has been compromised.
However, the investigation of these cases did point up a worrying lacuna. The RSA reported the alleged impersonations to the gardaí but was not informed of the results of subsequent Garda investigations. This information needs to be shared with the RSA if this area is to be policed properly.
At first glance, this story may appear almost light-hearted — there is a certain TV-sitcom tone to the idea of someone impersonating driving test candidates — but the death toll on our roads in recent years is no laughing matter. Reducing that toll is a serious challenge, which is why it is so important to ensure the integrity of our testing and licensing processes.
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