In November 2019, the Irish government introduced a bill to regulate the transparency of online paid political advertising during election periods. According to the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill, addressing political bots and advertising, using a bot to create 25 or more personas on social media would be punishable by up to five years in prison or fines of up to €10,000.
In December 2017, the government established an interdepartmental group to assess threats to the Irish electoral process (IDG). In the group’s first report appeared in July 2018 and stated that though the risks of disinformation to electoral processes are low, cyberattacks and online disinformation still pose substantial risks. The report made 7
recommendations. See the IDG’s November 2019 progress report.
