Irish anti-immigration activists are clocking up tens of millions of views online and in some cases profiting from spreading illegal hate content, writes Colm McGuirk.
One prominent agitator shared illegal videos that were seen 11.8million times in a six-week period this summer, according to analysis by an organisation that aims to counter the influence of the extreme right.
Under the terms of the International Protection Act 2015, it is illegal to broadcast – including online – material that may identify someone as an applicant to the asylum system.
This is to protect the identity of people who may be in danger in their country of origin.
But recent analysis by the Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC) – formerly the Far-right Observatory – showed that 39 such videos from four ‘high-profile’ accounts on YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, had combined amassed 14.5 million views over six weeks this July and August.
And 81% of those views – 11.8million …