Maria Flannery

20 minutes in and the wheels are already dead off 😬#ChampionsLeague

Israeli government agency paid for adverts targeting Eurovision Song Contest public vote All participating countries were targeted with ads on Google products

Our investigation: an agency of the Israeli government deployed cross-platform advertising and used state social media accounts to directly target and encourage the public in participating countries to vote for the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest

Fact-Check Dispatch Issue 15 of the Spotlight Fact-Check Dispatch

Wrote this review of the week in fact-checks, featuring our colleagues from RTVE🇪🇸 VRT🇧🇪 SVT🇸🇪 EBU🇨🇭 BBC🇬🇧 and Deutsche Welle🇩🇪

Free to read & subscribe! 💡

Both the platforms and the publishing news organisations need to keep on top of this. The impact of 1 or 20 of these comments at a time of such grief is grossly underestimated. Platforms and publishers have a duty of care to vulnerable, grieving families.

To think of the absolute shit being spammed under sensitive posts, which are being monitored and read by the families of bereaved people, is heartbreaking.

When we've had deaths in the family, relatives have taken great solace in the condolences and messages people leave under their death notices. We've read them out to our grandmother in the lulls during those mind-boggling days between death and funeral.

Someone I know died recently. In the Facebook comments beneath articles about his tragic death, there's an influx of spam comments among the condolences, containing links purporting to show the accident that killed him.

As a catholic, nothing more jarring to me than seeing a dude wearing a hoodie preaching onstage somewhere in the vicinity of a drum set

Still from Club Penguin

Bold of us to assume they're not also living in a society

My Animal Crossing island just got hit with 10% tariffs

The fact that people keep asking Grok to explain or confirm stories on X instead of activating a few brain cells is enough to make you despair for the future

When Trump says these tariffs are “reciprocal” it’s important to know he’s counting stuff like VAT – which is charged on domestic products as well as imports – as tariffs, which no-one else does. Because they’re not.

So the numbers he’s giving are all nonsense.

All this and you can still go out to a shop or bar without any hassle. Living the dream!

I can't believe I posted this before he literally threw merch out to the audience

Trump holding a card detailing tariffs on various countries

Oh so we've gone full game-show

Two Irish citizens ordered to leave Germany over pro-Palestinian protests despite no convictions Lawyers say the move undermines civil liberties for EU citizens

Two Irish citizens ordered to leave Germany over pro-Palestinian protests despite no convictions

Women protesting outside Leinster House strip-searched, one subjected to cavity search TDs protest at Garda treatment, Taoiseach did not understand ‘necessity for any strip-searching’

Women protesting outside Leinster House strip-searched, one subjected to cavity search

The year is 2025. Amazon finally launches in Ireland.

Leo Varadkar Instagram story saying: Conor is convicted criminal and a rapist. Good Irish dads teach their sons to detest men like Conor and their daughters to avoid men like him. Irish America - know this. Period!

Meme: Ger her, Jade

A tale of two Taytos: How an anthropomorphic crisp became a symbol for Irish identity How a half-man half-crisp in a suit became a symbol of the Irish diaspora—and an important part of the Brexit deliberations

In advance of #stpatricksday, here's a thread of essential articles about Irish stuff which you can present to international friends who wish to understand us better.

First up: a tale of two Taytos, by Róisín Lanigan.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/4005...

Sure, it's for the benefit of the US "special relationship" with Britain — the most important and special centre of the commonwealth.

Which really begs the question: why do Canadians or any other independent commonwealth nations put up with being the lesser child of a foreign power?

From an Irish perspective, it has always seemed utterly bizarre that the head of state of Canada is the British monarch.

So it's even more dumbfounding to imagine their king inviting Donald Trump for a state visit in the face of the wild threats he's made against Canada, one of his territories.

👀

Ireland, do your thing (find out exactly what Mayo village Mark Carney's grandparents came from)

YouTube video by Guardian News Danny Dyer calls David Cameron 'a twat' over Brexit

Great to see Danny Dyer doing absolute bits. Although for me I fear he's never going to beat his "trotters up" run

Michael Caine tweets: "Trump calm down" and "calm down"

Hope he sees this

I am ordering all of my opinion-writing employees to only write about the importance of personal liberty, if they don't want to write on the assigned topic, they will lose their jobs

Watching the Lotto ad where the guy builds an elaborate water slide in his neighbourhood:

"As if the council would ever approve that"

Fully agree with Donal Skehan that Ireland should have a national song contest, separate from the Late Late Show.

Let's do an Irish Sanremo that our top talent can be proud to enter — for the prestige of it alone, with Eurovision entry as an additional perk! #Eurosong

Hopes remains in Belgium are those of Irish war hero There are hopes that human remains found at the site of an ancient church in Belgium could be those of Irish war hero Patrick Sarsfield.

Forever enthralled by this story — @francemidwest.bsky.social