Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate Jim Gavin has said that online claims about him are “obviously lies”.
Mr Gavin has been contacting social media companies about the matter and his campaign said on Tuesday that TikTok has now removed two videos that had been uploaded on its platform.
It comes after Facebook owner Meta removed a number of posts about Mr Gavin that were in violation of its community standards.
On Tuesday Mr Gavin told Virgin Media television that “misinformation” and “untruths online about my family and indeed my friends” are “completely unacceptable”.
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He added: “I’m not going to stand for it and at a broader context society shouldn’t stand for it.
“It’s completely unacceptable.
“As a president I will be a uniting force, not a divisive force.”
He said: “I’ve contacted the companies involved” and “this morning I’ve gotten information from TikTok that they will remove it.”
Mr Gavin also said: “these are obviously lies” and he said he would also continue to contact the Media Commission “to ensure that they take appropriate action.”
Mr Gavin’s campaign said that another social media platform, X, has acknowledged letters from him and “indicated they’re examining the matter”.
According to TikTok the company has taken a number of steps since being contacted by Mr Gavin including blocking certain terms from appearing in its suggested search function.
Various derogatory posts about Mr Gavin, a former Dublin GAA manager, have been shared and viewed online. No evidence whatsoever has been put forward to support the claims, which concern Mr Gavin’s personal life.
One person behind some of the online posts about Mr Gavin is Kieran Kelly, a right-wing environmentalist and “Trump loyalist” who wants to set up a new Irish political party.
The former Waterford fisherman, who lives in Indonesia, has suggested his posts were in response to what he claimed were attempts by the Irish Coalition to interfere in the US presidential election.
When contacted by The Irish Times on Monday, he declined to share any evidence for the claims, saying it would be made available at a later date.
Mr Kelly said online that he had a call this month with Maria Steen, the conservative campaigner trying to enter the presidential election.
Ms Steen confirmed the call during a press conference on Tuesday.
She said: “As you can imagine, I’ve been getting calls from lots of different people who I have never met before and have never spoken to before.
“I had a call with Kieran Kelly. He mentioned nothing about Jim Gavin or any other candidate to me. He talked about, I think, that there’s an organisation called the Wild Geese, of Irish people abroad, who are taking an interest in Irish politics.
“That was the sum total of the phone call. I listened to what he had to say, and that was it.
“I have also been seeing the problem with social media, I suppose. And one of the things that I hope I could bring to this election is to call for dignified and respectful debate and respect for others. I, too, have, you know, had hostile receptions both online and in person.”
She added: “It’s not nice, and you know, I’m the mother of five young children. I don’t want them to grow up in a country that is so polarised, so divided and so disrespectful to those of other beliefs. So I condemn any attempt to spread malicious rumours about anybody, and that’s all I can say about it. I don’t know anything further.”
