Podcasts

‘Hotbed of digital censorship’: MAGA’s war with Ireland over freedom of speech

The Trump administration has problems with Ireland’s regulation of what people see on social media and the internet more broadly. According to reports, US officials threatened to impose visa bans on Irish officials who impose strict EU rules on online content because that - according to the MAGA philosophy - is censorship. Meanwhile, Irish students heading to the States on summer visas face having their own social media accounts analysed for content the US State Department regards as hostile “toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.” Today on Newstalk Daily, we look at the importance of the social media giants to the Irish economy, ask how our regulators might respond to the American demands, and consider what freedom of speech really means. Ciara Doherty is joined at Newstalk Daily HQ by business editor Joe Lynam and journalist and entrepreneur Mark Little, who co-founded Storyful and Kinzen and worked for tech giants Twitter and Spotify. Email us at any time on [email protected]. see more