It is “concerning” how many people believe a conspiracy theory that elected officials want more immigration to improve the voting base, the integration minister has said.
Some 22% of respondents to a recent Electoral Commission survey believed it is definitely or probably true that the establishment is replacing white Irish people with non-white immigrants and elected officials want more immigration to “bring in more obedient voters”.
Asked about the results, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said: “It’s really concerning because when you look at the range of conspiracy theories that you see online, that’s far, far out there.
“And yet, over one in five people, according to that survey, believe it.
“When you look online, and you see the range of disinformation – I was talking to someone earlier today who just signed up for TikTok, and straight away being bombarded by far-right social media videos from Ireland and from US sources, people purporting to comment about Ireland and giving absolutely inaccurate information.
“So the work that the Online Safety Commissioner is doing is so, so important, because there has to be an obligation on these platforms – that are really valuable and social media has opened up so much – but there’s a real responsibility with that as well.
“The codes of conduct and the guidelines that the Commission will be bringing out will have to be adhered to closely by the social media companies.
“They have a real responsibility not to allow this sort of misinformation permeate because it is dangerous.”
He said recent violence in Ireland and the UK had been precipitated by misinformation and disinformation.