Facebook and Twitter directors may face criminal sanctions in Ireland under new laws

Directors of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may face criminal sanctions from the government under new laws, according to a new report from The Irish Times.

Under proposals discussed between Fianna Fáil Senators and Green Party Minister for Culture and Media Catherine Martin, senior executives at social media companies could face criminal sanctions if they don't do enough to tackle harmful content.

The organisers behind the planned legislation have said that due to the significant profits of social media companies, fines are not a significant punishment or deterrent.

One of the organisers, FF Senator Malcolm Byrne, explained: "If companies can simply write off fines as business costs, as we have arguably seen in the case of some data breaches, then we know that they are not going to take fines for the consequences of online harm seriously."

The online safety and media commission legislation is due to be considered by the Oireachtas in the coming months: it aims to regulate social media giants, enabling a new commission which will have powers to levy them with substantial fines.

However, as the Irish Times also reported, many online safety campaigners want to toughen the proposed legislation, which they say does not go far enough.

As the internet becomes a larger part of our lives, accountability from the heads of social media companies have become a hot-button issue in recent years, and many countries have been considering introducing similar laws.

Earlier this month, the UK government announced that social media heads may face prosecution or jail time within two months of the new Online Safety Bill becoming law, instead of two years, as it was previously drafted.

The government said a range of new offenses had been added to the bill that makes the senior managers at tech firms criminally liable.

These include destroying evidence, failing to attend or providing false information in interviews with its regulator Ofcom, and for obstructing the watchdog when it enters company offices.