Nearly all of us were complacent and were convinced that the chances of the alt-right or the likes emerging here were slim. Then, after a horrific stabbing outside Coláiste Mhuire Gaelscoil in East Parnell Square in the center of the capital, that shameful riot happened. Right-wing extremists drove the posting of many provocative messages on social media – including on X (Twitter), Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. Some posts incorrectly referred to the attacker as an "illegal immigrant". It was reported on Facebook that it was a Romanian who stabbed the four in East Parnell Square. Some accounts were encouraging people to go to the city center and attack guards, immigrants and politicians. One voice note was widely shared on WhatsApp and Facebook encouraging people to kill any foreigner they encountered.

It is clear from what has happened that a small group of extremists is able to use social media as fighting tools to greatly influence the emotions of certain people. The alt-right had been spreading a lot of hateful messages, full of misogyny and harm, on social media for quite some time before the riot, and waves of them just before. It was clear that there would be trouble that night in the city, but no one in the security forces was monitoring those activities, or if they were, they didn't pay much attention to them. But, that riot was an eye-opener for the government, and there will be no excuse to ignore social media like that in the future. They are an early warning system that our government should use to keep us safe from harm.

Political influence is being exerted on us

The internet is a global technology, regardless of international borders. Therefore, people abroad can have all kinds of influences on us. In my opinion, political influence is the worst kind. It's not that the others aren't bad enough, because they are. For example, thieves can hack into computer systems and steal personal data, or organizations can restrict their access to their own sites and then blackmail them. But in comparison, look at what happened with the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It is now clear that the Russians were exerting political influence on that election. A company called 'Fancy Bear' carried out a phishing attack on the Democrats and especially on Hilary Clinton's team. 'Fancy Bear' had the support of the Russian government, and after they hacked into Clinton's email servers, the Russians had a powerful fighting tool. Third-party companies (Guccifer 2.0, WikiLeaks and DCLeaks) released more than 150,000 emails, which were stolen from a handful of Democratic representatives, including Hilary Clinton. As Hilary Clinton told an audience at a recent speech at Stanford University: "Even if Russian meddling had made only a small difference, that election would have been won by the smallest margin in the Electoral College." In my opinion, Trump did not win that election, let alone the 2020 election! And Trump's presidency has had disastrous consequences.

Another powerful fighting tool often used online is the widespread dissemination of inaccurate information on social media. Do you remember that decentralized political movement – QAnon, which is rooted in a baseless conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by the “Deep State,” a gang of Satan-worshiping pedophiles. Former President Donald Trump is the only person capable of defeating the forces of evil! Do you also remember that many who believed in that rumor were involved in the uprising at the Capitol in Washington DC, on January 6, 2021!

What does this have to do with me?

We cannot throw caution to the wind but we all need to be more vigilant, but especially our own government, regarding the use of social media as tools to fight against us. I mentioned just a few examples of what happens when social media is ignored. This is a global phenomenon, and no country is safe from this threat. I hope we have learned that now in Ireland.

The United States has warned the Irish Government that there is a high possibility that Russia will try to interfere with our upcoming elections. The warning says Russia is misusing social media, espionage and hybrid methods to interfere with and discredit elections in democratic countries. Ireland has come out strongly for Ukraine since 2022, so Ireland is definitely on Putin's "naughty list"! The government must address this issue immediately!

.

.

.