DATA THE TÁNAISTE obtained through High Court proceedings he brought against Google relating to fake cryptocurrency adverts is being “forensically analysed”. 

Speaking to reporters in Armagh today where he was attending the North-South Ministerial Council, Micheál Martin said he took legal action against Google in the public interest.

Martin said it “doesn’t augur well” for ordinary citizens when the deputy leader of a country needs to take a social media company to court to get “basic” information.

The Fianna Fáil leader claimed the ads that appeared on legitimate websites had wrongly used his image and contained links to false “pseudo-newspaper articles” associating him with a cryptocurrency scam. 

Google was required under the court order to provide information about the adverts to Martin, including the names, email address, and telephone numbers relating to the accounts associated with them.

Google also had to provide details it had of any financial accounts or services used to pay for the publication of the adverts and details of any IP addresses from which the accounts were accessed in order to procure their publication. 

Martin confirmed today such adverts have also appeared on X, formerly Twitter, more recently, in the latter two weeks leading up to the recent referendum campaign.

“We are pursuing Twitter in terms of full transparency,” said Martin, adding that it’s taking “some time” to have the information he obtained from Google forensically analysed by professionals.

“That work is currently underway on my behalf and so we’ve made no further decisions in respect of how more we’ll take, we have to first of all analyse it,” he said. 

“We do need to know who is behind all of this, and why are the social media companies taking to revenue?” he said.

“These are ads that are defamatory, that are false, so I think I have an obligation to the public good to try and pursue this as far as I can.

False ads

“As a deputy prime minister of government to have to go into those lengths to actually get some basic information as to who’s behind these fake ads, false ads and defamatory ads, I think doesn’t augur well for the citizens’ capacity to do likewise in respect of citizens being undermined by social media,” Martin said.  

“A sharper focus” on the issue is needed by government, Martin acknowledged, stating that it will require engagement with all social media companies. 

He said it is a “very important issue” and a “key issue” as regards the integrity of elections.

Martin went on to state that government is “very concerned” about different threats that are manifesting “in different ways”, pointing out that junior minister Mary Butler recently had her tyres slashed. 

Butler was attending a meeting on International Women’s Day. Martin described the incident as “very alarming”. 

“It’s at a level that we haven’t experienced before in Ireland. I think we have to be very vigilant about it,” said the Tánaiste.