Ireland’s embarrassing social media crusade

Some Spectator readers may recall the rather charming story of the small local newspaper in West Cork which took on the might of the Russian empire. In September 1898, following Tsar Nicolas II’s success in securing a warm water base for the Russian navy in the south China sea, a thunderous editorial warned the expansionist ruler that: ‘The Skibbereen Eagle Is Watching You!’

Whether this suitably chastened the Tsar is, sadly, lost to history. Subsequent events suggest perhaps not.

But it seems that the spirit of The Skibbereen Eagle is alive and well in Irish political life. Taoiseach Simon Harris has decided to put on his tough-guy boots and go head to head with what we are meant to believe is the greatest threat to democracy of our era: social media.

Having spent the last few weeks fulminating against their evils and demanding meetings with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, it was announced over the weekend that he has written to all government departments setting out his plans to clamp down on social media companies over their handling of ‘online threats, bullying and increased spread of misinformation.