Leo Varadkar

Mr Varadkar has sent letters to Facebook, Twitter, Google and TikTok asking them what more they can do to tackle illegal gatherings being organised on their platforms as well as the spreading of misinformation during the pandemic.

His calls follow the violent protests that happened in Dublin earlier this year as he said that the events were “clearly planned” using social media or private messaging services.

Mr Varadkar identified that the people involved in the protests were well-organised and were a “conglomeration of anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown groups”.

Facebook has responded to the letter saying it was also “appalled” to see the violence of the protests and it had launched an internal investigation after the protest which led to the removal of 20 Facebook groups, 15 pages, and two Instagram profiles.

Google also responded, saying it took the issue “very seriously” but that its services were not “currently known for being favoured” for organisation of such events. Google did however, offer to run a discussion and workshop for Mr Varadkar and his team on how it manages harmful content and misinformation.