Why are Sinn Féin employing people abroad to manage their social media accounts

Why are State funded Sinn Féin employing people outside Ireland for their social media management, a Fine Gael Senator has asked.

Senator John Cummins said the revelation that Deputy Mary Lou McDonald’s party have people outside of Ireland working and managing the party’s Facebook advertisement pages has serious repercussions for the 2020 Electoral Reform Bill which is currently before the Oireachtas.

“Sinn Féin have admitted that someone in Germany works for their social media team. According to the latest available figures, Sinn Féin received in €2,510,463 in public funds in 2019 as disclosed by the Standards in Public Office Commission,” Senator Cummins said.

“This poses some very serious questions regarding Sinn Féin and their use of State funds. Is their German based worker employed under Irish or German law?

“There are also two people in Serbia who Sinn Féin say help out their social media team. How so? Are they paid? Were they ever paid? Are they part of wider organisations or agencies?

“We have also since learned this week that Deputy McDonald’s party had social media operatives in Serbia and Germany in last year’s General Election campaign. This is highly disturbing – it concerns the use of State funds and strict electoral law. Were they adhered to?

“We can see online Sinn Féin’s Facebook advertisement pages were managed by one person in Serbia and one in German last February when the Irish General Election took place.

“Why were people from outside this State managing party political accounts during a democratic election? How much was spent on work that the Serbian and German Facebook managers were involved in? What work did they do? Was this spend declared in Sinn Féin’s Exchequer and/or Election returns?

“We are merely scratching at the surface here I suspect. Was there outside involvement in their other social media accounts? If there was with Facebook, we should know where else accounts were managed and overseen – in this country or a foreign State,” Senator Cummins said.

“At today’s committee hearing regarding the Electoral Reform Act, Facebook could not give us a clear answer as to whether a political campaign or advertisement set up in Ireland, could be modified and edited abroad, before it is pushed onto Irish Facebook accounts. This is highly unsatisfactory and requires clear answers. The public deserves to know whether individuals or organisations outside of this jurisdiction can create content, develop ad sets, select micro targeting and select the budgets.”

“Facebook did confirm finance spent by a third party on behalf of or supporting a political party or politician’s page doesn’t show on ad library of that political party or politician’s page. This leaves a democratic electoral system highly open to influence from unknown agents and it has to be tackled,” Senator Cummins concluded.