2026-01-20

134. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he has had engagement with an organisation (details supplied) in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on the platform, the dissemination of same on the platform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3728/26]

In recent weeks we have seen extremely troubling reports about the misuse of Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI and integrated into the X platform. This tool has enabled users to generate sexualised images of real people, including children. What engagement has the Minister had with this organisation in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on that platform over the past number of weeks?

I want to put on the record my disgust at the type of material that is being created and shared on social media. It is abhorrent. My first concern is with those affected, in particular women, young children and young people in general. The sharing of non-consensual intimate images is illegal under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, also known as Coco's Law; and the generation or distribution of any child sexual abuse material is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. If a member of the public is concerned about images shared online, they should report it immediately to An Garda Síochána. Such reports and complaints are important for An Garda Síochána in its investigations of suspected criminality, and it is the responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct prosecution of any individual or company for alleged offences. People should also report this type of content to Hotline.ie, the national reporting centre, which will also pursue the removal of that content. Finally, under our online safety framework, there is an obligation on platforms to act on reports of illegal content. This is why I would encourage any user to report illegal content to the online platform where they saw it and to Coimisiún na Meán. An coimisiún utilises complaints to help assess compliance by platforms with the online safety framework so reporting illegal content helps an coimisiún in its work. Under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission has lead responsibility for the oversight of very large online platforms, including X. The European Commission has been very clear in warning X that it must remedy this matter and X has claimed it has taken certain steps to do so. However, the European Commission is taking investigative steps and an announcement on further action is expected imminently. This may include interim measures such as requiring a change to a service. Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's digital services co-ordinator under the Digital Services Act and in this role it is continuing to work with the European Commission on this serious matter. I support the European Commission, as the lead regulator, in taking all possible and necessary steps to ensure that X is brought into compliance with its regulatory obligations. As Minister, it would be wrong to seek to interfere with the process of investigation but I am committed, along with my Government colleagues, to doing all that is required to ensure that people, in particular women, children and young people, are protected online. Ireland has strong laws in place and the Attorney General is continuing to examine whether these can be further strengthened. I will bring a memorandum to Government in the coming weeks to set out our next steps.

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I echo his sentiment. I and other members of the media committee feel the behaviour that has occurred in recent weeks is illegal and harmful and we cannot tolerate it. Can the Minister outline any direct interaction he has had with X? Has he had such interaction with it or does he intend to do so? One thing I picked up from the witnesses who appeared before the media committee last week is that there is probably plenty of legislation in place but that the necessary resources are lacking in the context of ensuring that we can enforce it. I found it interesting that from the point of view of some of those witnesses, it is almost expected that the large social media platforms will honour their side of the bargain in terms of enforcement. Outside of X, does the Minister feel that this kind of mutual co-operation in enforcing legislation is there among all the social media platforms? The representatives from the Garda Síochána indicated that the force was investigating 200 or so images at that point. Does the Minister know if the number of such images has increased in the week since their appearance at the media committee?

I will take the last question first. I do not know if the number has increased. That is because it is a Garda matter. It is not for the Government to interfere in the operations of the Garda Síochána, nor is it the role of the Minister to interfere where there is an independent regulator. In this case, there are two independent regulators, namely Coimisiún na Meán and the European Commission. Due to the very large nature of the online platform under scrutiny in this instance, X, this is a matter for the Commission in the first instance. As the Deputy probably heard me say, I am expecting a statement imminently from the European Commission on this matter. I thought it would have come today or yesterday but it did not. I expect that, hopefully, it will come before the end of the week. The sooner it comes the better, to be quite honest. In the context of my interaction with X, I met with its representatives prior to Christmas. I met them along with representatives from a number of other platforms, including Google, TikTok, Meta and LinkedIn. In respect of the latest controversy, given the fact I am the Minister with responsibility for the regulator and ensuring that the regulator fulfils its role, I do not think, to be quite honest, that it would be appropriate for me to meet somebody who would potentially be under investigation, no more than it would be appropriate for the Minister for Justice to meet them if it was a Garda-related matter.

A lot of this is new to us. This is obviously developing very fast. The very nature of these media platforms and AI tools in particular mean that much of it is new. When questioning the Minister, I am not trying to point the finger at Coimisiún na Meán or anybody else. In retrospect, does the Minister think that we could have acted on this faster, particularly in the context of learning lessons for the future and so on? The Minister said he hopes that a statement will be forthcoming, and the sooner the better. In that context, does he think, in retrospect, that we could have done anything better? The Minister is probably aware that X has refused to send representatives to appear before the media committee of which Deputy Byrne and I are members. Does the Minister think that is an error on X's part and that it should reconsider its position?

I do think it is a mistake. To be quite honest, X should send representatives. The company is operating in the jurisdiction. The last time I was asked about people attending the committee in question was when the FAI said that it was not going to send representatives. I was asked on the radio whether I thought its representatives should appear and I said that they should. I also stated that a letter should be issued on the afternoon of that day. A letter was issued. I think X's representatives should go in. Representatives from all the platforms should do so. Failure to engage with the people's representatives in Dáil Éireann says an awful lot. I do not think other social media platforms take that view. They have engaged with the committee and I know that Coimisiún na Meán has done so as well. In relation to what we have done, it is important to point out that the House has taken significant steps with regard to issues around child sex abuse, pornography and pornographic images of children. The State has acted in that context. It has also acted very clearly in respect of the sharing of images in a non-consensual fashion. It is illegal to do that in this country. We had a meeting the other night, convened by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, in respect of this issue. I will be bringing a memorandum to the Government on this matter shortly in order to update it on what exactly the current situation is vis-à-vis the law. If there are further changes that I or the Minister of Justice or both of us together need to do in this space, we will make them. Ideally, this should be done by the European Commission. It is regrettable that the European Union has not done more in this space.