Internet Culture
From "Happy Slaps" to today's political violence
Are we seeing an unholy alliance between far right radicalisation, and the exhibitionist nihilism that emerged almost as soon as the camera phone did?
Tech policy
Simon Harris has had enough; where will that energy take us?
Simon Harris has come out swinging for Big Tech; a much needed tone shift at the top of Government. But what happens next will determine if we turn around our reputation in Europe, or descend into a pointless beef with a Silicon Valley manchild
Talking points: UK election
I will be achieving a life goal this evening - playing a small role in RTE's coverage of the UK election count. I'm sharing some talking points I may get to share and am very interested in feedback - you can comment on this post, or
elections
ICYMI: The Splinternet election
A recent Op-Ed; an overview of the Irish online campaign that looks at what our fracturing internet means for campaigning and politics in 2024 in Ireland and the rest of the world
elections
Shuttershock: Ad spend roundup, plus last minute shenanigans
Happy Voting Eve. A last pre-election round up, bringing together as best anyone can spend data from the Meta and Google ad archives. Plus, a collection of election news covered by other people
Update: The Briefing investigation leading the Irish Times, plus TikTok replies
A quick update on the investigation shared with you this morning; you can now read TikTok's reply in The Irish Times, who are leading with the story, and I will paste the company's response below too. They are sticking to their line that they ban political
Political Ads
Investigation: TikTok is failing to comply with EU rules on political ads
Our investigation shows multiple candidates are running ads on TikTok for Ireland's election, despite the company's claims to block political ads. TikTok is both not enforcing its own policies, AND, failing to comply with EU rules.
Political Ads
Campaign round up: Irish Freedom Party dominating YouTube ad spend
The Irish Freedom Party spent €4,100 in the past 3 weeks on YouTube ads, the biggest spenders on YouTube ads this election.
Four resources for election candidates and watchers
As I work through more ads and spending data (coming soon), I wanted to share 4 brilliant resources that have really impressed me this week. 1) A dashboard of all local election candidates The very good people over at Women for Election have built an easy to navigate dashboard showing
Latest MEP candidate ad spending; and what does it cost to win (and lose) a Euro seat?
We last looked at online ad spending by MEP candidates two weeks ago. Since then campaigning has ramped up, and we are starting to see patterns emerging that tell us about party strategies. It also sparks lots of questions about the role of money in Irish elections, something we ordinarily
Violence is not political speech; and hybrid online / offline abuse
I was on RTE’s Prime Time last night to talk about recent violent attacks against canvassers and candidates, and if this could be connected with heated policy debates on migration. My main point was that violence and criminality are not political speech; they are political violence, tactics to silence
Euro election ads, that Sky News report on US tweets, & "OpenAI Ireland" lawyers up
Welcome new subscribers, who maybe heard about The Briefing on RTE's This Week, or the For Tech's Sake podcast. More about the newsletter here. I'm covering 3 things in 700 words this week, so lets dive in 1) European Parliament election ads Nomination for