'Absolutely vile' - Mayo TD speaks out on social media comments

A Mayo TD has moved to label some of the abusive comments they receive on TikTok as ‘absolutely vile’.

Keira Keogh, of Fine Gael, made the comments during her interview on Today FM’s ‘The Last Word’ show with Matt Cooper. Also on the show was Aontú TD for Mayo, Paul Lawless.

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During the interview, Matt Cooper questioned the pair on their use of social media, and more pertinently, the moderation of comments on their platforms.

Deputy Keogh was the first to respond.

“On TikTok, we filter the comments because they're absolutely vile,” she stated. “On Twitter, I don't really partake. I might retweet, but I love Instagram.”

"I keep my comments on on Instagram.

“I love engaging with my constituents. I love sharing what we're doing. I find it a great way to keep them informed.”

When the same question was put to Deputy Lawless, he offered a slightly different response.

“I don't turn off comments,” the Aontú representative responded.

“I will say some of them are negative, and I try to ignore them and I try to not engage too much in the comments, because I think you can get very sidetracked and maybe down a rabbit hole.

“But I do engage with my constituents through social media, and for sure, the comments are turned on.”

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Deputy Keogh also moved to address the topic of identity verification in order to create a social media account as a barrier to online abuse.

“In my whole term, if I could get online verification for everybody across social media.

“Revolut can do it, Tinder can do it. I think if you want a social media account, you should be verified. Our first step is getting verification for under 16, and that will help,” she concluded.

You can listen to the full segment below: