Ireland

Micheal Martin said he is pursuing Google ads case ‘for the public good’

The Tánaiste said the Irish government would have to return to the issue of the power of social media giants have to influence elections.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin speaking during a press conference after a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) at the NSMC headquarters in Armagh
Micheal Martin Tanaiste Micheal Martin speaking during a press conference after a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) at the NSMC headquarters in Armagh (Oliver McVeigh/PA)
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Ireland’s deputy premier has said he took legal action against Google over ads that were linked to him in the public interest.

Tanaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin launched a court action against the tech giant in December over ads that were “linked” to him.

The High Court in Dublin issued a court order to force the multinational to hand over information about the adverts.

Mr Martin said it “doesn’t augur well” for ordinary citizens when the deputy leader of a country needs to take a social media company to court to get “basic” information.

He said the material received through the court order is being “forensically analysed” to find the source, which he said is taking “some time”.

“We do need to know who is behind all of this, and why are the social media companies taking to revenue?” he said speaking in Co Armagh on Monday.

“These are ads that are defamatory, that are false, so I think I have an obligation to the public good to try and pursue this as far as I can.”

He said that there was a similar situation on Twitter in the latter two weeks of the referendum campaign in relation to the family and carer amendments in March, which Mr Martin is “pursuing Twitter in terms of full transparency”.

“As a deputy prime minister of government to have to go into those lengths to actually get some basic information as to who’s behind these fake ads, false ads and defamatory ads, I think doesn’t augur well for the citizens’ capacity to do likewise in respect of citizens being undermined by social media.”

There are concerns about the potential for online interference in the European and local election in June 7.

Ireland’s new electoral authority An Coimisiun Toghchain is advising voters to “treat every day like it’s April Fools Day” ahead of the polls.

“We are conscious of the increasing the capacity to interfere with elections in the most negative way on the social media platforms,” Mr Martin said.

“This is an issue the government has to return to, I think, with a sharper focus and we’ll have to engage with the companies across social media in respect to the integrity of elections.

“I think this is a very important issue and it’s a key issue.”