The Digital Services Act (DSA)—the EU’s new legislative framework to regulate online platforms—came into full force on Saturday, putting the European Commission’s small Irish partner in charge of handling most of the regulatory caseload for the entire bloc. This decision-making process, based at the Coimisiún na Meán, is set to make a major impact on future EU and European elections.
A statement distributed on behalf of Coimisiún na Meán described how the organisation would “empower people and civil society groups to hold platforms to account for dealing with illegal content” with the introduction of the DSA. It “looks forward” to working on digital moderation with the European Commission.
Coimisiún na Meán will has been granted unprecedented powers to censor online content for 450 million EU citizens from Saturday February 17th as the DSA comes into full effect. The Dublin-based body is seen by many as Europe’s nerve centre for monitoring and removing allegedly hateful content, ahead of a busy election cycle.
The presence of most major digital platforms in Dublin means the 75-person office will effectively become the chief EU moderator for platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, deciding which content to remove. It can even issue multi-billion euro fines to corporations, a politically sensitive task ahead of June’s European elections.
The DSA came into full effect on Saturday, February 17th, and will impose fines worth up to 6% of a company’s annual income, combined with the possibility of prosecution for companies who defy the edict of regulatory bodies such as Coimisiún na Meán.
The DSA has been criticised as open to human error and political manipulation. As if saying the quiet part out loud, just this week Irish MEP Barry Andrews suggested the Act as a potential replacement for fiercely contested hate speech legislation which formally targets the far Right.
European politicians have already attacked the political intent of the DSA, with Tucker Carlson’s Vladimir Putin interview becoming an early target. Many right-wing populists are concerned that the primary aim of the DSA is to undermine them in the guise of fighting so-called disinformation.
The regulator’s Dublin office will be supported by DHR Communications, a politically connected PR firm which has taken a key strategic role advising the agency. It has ties to Ireland’s left-leaning president Michael D. Higgins and ruling Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties. DHR appears to have been given the task of running Coimisiún na Meán’s public relations work and helping with strategy in time for the DSA’s debut.
Despite claims that the regulator should be non-partisan, its communications agency brings with it ties to the hard Left and even Antifa activists. One prominent activist, on hand to help launch the DSA, is Síona Cahill, a former student militant and president of the country’s national student union. She is now Coimisiún na Meán’s primary media officer, working alongside her employer DHR.
A student activist and board member of The Irish Family Planning Association (the Irish equivalent of Planned Parenthood), as well as ex-president of the Irish national student union, Cahill became embroiled in an expose of the Irish antifascist scene in 2020.
A self described “feminist and a rabble rouser” who has worked as an Account Director for DHR Communications, previously Cahill has made her partisan bias obvious. A pinned tweet on her personal Twitter account decrying “right-wing agitation” demonstrates this—as did social media posts criticising populist candidates during the 2019 European elections.
Following our inquiries, Cahill has appeared to unpin a tweet describing her outlook—just minutes after being contacted by The European Conservative.
The former student activist has spoken previously at a youth conference for the German Green Party about her role in the Irish abortion referendum. Given the opportunity in both telephone and email contact from The European Conservative, Cahill was unable to explain whether her hard Left activities—including public attacks on free speech for conservatives—would impact on her new responsibilities.
As part of initiating the landmark piece of censorship legislation, Cahill will work alongside Patricia Ryan, a former advisor to both the office of the President of the European Parliament and the Irish government. This emphases the links between both the Irish state and hard left with the new hate speech regulator.
It is troubling that activists who can’t get elected by appealing directly to the electorate will play a major role in regulating debate during a major European election year.