Jim Gavin confirms TikTok will take action over 'lies' posted on their platform

Vivienne Clarke

Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate, Jim Gavin, said he received word from social media company TikTok on Wednesday morning that it will take action on the misinformation and abuse he has received on the outlet.

“It's not only misinformation, it’s lies, and there has been, I think some normalisation of this,” he told LMFM radio stations’ The Agenda show.

“I'm very focused on what I need to do (in the campaign), and it certainly will not distract me but when family, when friends were brought into it I had to say stop.

“This needs to be called out for what it is, it's just simply not good enough, it is not acceptable, it cannot be normalised that somebody can go online, whoever they are, and tell lies and abuse people online, it just is not acceptable and it's not good for my mental health, you know I'm very focused on my campaign.

"I've got four weeks to go, but on other people who might not have the context of that focus, the mental health on our young people, so it needs to stop.

“The media commission they've been given relatively new powers in terms of dealing with abuse and misinformation and lies online and they need to take that action.

“Meta had moved on it last week, and I got information this morning that TikTok are moving on it which demonstrates that they also believe that there are lies, misinformation and abuse.

“But it's not about me, it's about the wider context of this in our society.

"It's just not right and even on your show, you need to call it out for what it is. It is just not acceptable. We have a brilliant country here. We don't need to be slating your children online.

"It's just not good enough and I'm not going to accept that my friends and family are going to take abuse and lies online. And that's why I took that step to write legal letters to those companies and I contacted the media commission to take action.”

Mr Gavin also said that as president, he would not be partisan. “The president's the first citizen of the country, not the first politician.

“I'll speak out on issues that I believe speak to the heart of the Irish nation without fear or favour. The presidency isn't about promoting one's ideology, promoting one party, promoting one's self, it's about promoting what's great in Ireland.”

Mr Gavin also admitted that he had “lost” his use of the Irish language, but that he intended to learn to speak Irish again, whether or not he became president.