Man arrested in connection with threats made against the Taoiseach online

Kenneth Fox

A man has been arrested in connection with online threats against the Taoiseach.

Gardaí investigating online threats against an elected representative made the arrest on Sunday morning.

The man aged in his 40s is being questioned at a Garda Station in the North West.

It comes as last week the Tasoieach said he would have no problem meeting Elon Musk and other social media executives about content on their platforms.

The Taoiseach said last week that social media companies cannot be allowed to act like the “Wild West”.

“It is totally unacceptable that any media platform – digital, online, print – would allow a threat towards anybody remain for a significant period of time.”

"We can’t have a situation where it’s seen as some kind of Wild West over there (on social media) that does not come into contact with the same laws and enforcement that (a newspaper) would – this is a form of media.”

"The era of self-regulation of these companies is well and truly over," he said.

Mr Harris said Ireland would soon introduce new measures and financial penalties against social media companies in the range of tens of millions of euros, under an online safety code.

He said he was “very proud” of the work under way at media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, adding that Ireland was “ahead of many, many other European countries”.

He said binding measures could be put in place later this year that would “hit these companies where it hurts” if they fail to comply with the new rules.