What happened to those €4billion in Irish GDPR fines?
And what does it cost our regulators and courts?
The Briefing
A newsletter on technology and politics through an Irish lens, written by Liz Carolan
Latest posts
We’re being robbed of the benefits of human ingenuity
I gave a keynote today at an event on “AI and Accountability” hosted by the Children’s Rights Alliance, and I used it to untangle two ideas; that we can love tech while also being deeply enraged by the industry that has made every app we love
Why is our Government shilling for AI companies?
FOMO is not an economic strategy
Three digital stories of the by-election: a media round up
There were three interesting tech adjacent stories during the campaign; betting via (relatively) new predictive markets, Generative AI answers missing the mark, and new spending data transparency.
By-elections: parties spend €225k on ads, 99.7% of it offline
What happens when you design a law around Meta's architecture, and then apply it to leafletting Connemara?
Reform's campaign for the British local elections: guest post
Friend of the newsletter Sam Jeffers from WhoTargetsMe has, for his sins, been monitoring the online campaign ahead of today's local elections in Britain. Reform has taken a fundamentally different approach to this election, working hard to make itself the main character. As Sam summarises: In 2024, Reform&
Desperately seeking Unicorns: a report from inside the Brussels bubble
Companies reach Unicorn size due to sheer ruthlessness; of their business practices and of the US idea of capitalism.
Missed appointments missed the point; how Gov lost the narrative war in the Fuel Protest
Sharing some incomplete thoughts on the narrative battle around the fuel protests, which feel like they are realigning Irish politics as we speak.
Who is funding the fuel protest's online campaign?
Political mobilisation does not scale "spontaneously", and, once that fire is lit, there is no controlling what it burns.
2025 Wrap Up: Moments of the Year
I will be on Virgin Media later this evening for the Tonight Show’s end of year review, and I thought I would share some of my speaking notes with you here. We’ve been asked to prep our “of the year”s; moment, story,
Highest percentage and highest number of votes in the history of the Irish Presidency
The results are in; Catherine Connolly won the Irish Presidential election of 2025, gathering 914,143 - or 63% - of the vote. There is a lot of talk of spoiled ballots (including from me ) - but - this win is historically comprehensive. Catherine Connolly has garnered the highest percentage of votes in the
#Aras25 Campaign Roundup
Over the last few months I have tried to dig out and get on the record some of the hidden and more ephemeral aspects of this election. Here is a recap of what we covered.
Meta allows deepfake "election cancelled" content to spread in #Aras25
This video is worrying; it shows a combination of both intent and skill in building out very deceptive content, in a way that resonates with Irish audiences.
Comedy wins in #Aras25 content battle
Aoife Dunne's "Sorry now" video is one of the most subtle yet devastating pieces of political content I have ever seen.
Fine Gael's Attack Video: Áras25 in Content
By burying the lede and handing over airtime, have Fine Gael committed an own goal?