Sir, – The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, currently being debated in the Seanad, makes it a criminal offence to “[Possess] material that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics”. This implies that, if Alice sends an offensive image to Bob via WhatsApp, and Bob’s phone automatically saves WhatsApp images to his phone (as most phones do), Bob is therefore guilty of a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison.
Who among us isn’t part of a WhatsApp group in which one of the members periodically sends off-colour memes or images? – Yours, etc,
FIONN MURRAY,
Dublin 16.