Jim Gavin hits back at ‘malicious’ social media smear campaign against him

He's had his say.

Former Dublin manager Jim Gavin is on the campaign trail as he aims to become the next President of Ireland, after securing the Fianna Fáil nomination.

The six-time All-Ireland winning manager has gained even more respect in the game, after overseeing the wildly successful introduction of the new rules in Gaelic football.

His experience with the Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Aviation Authority has also added weight to his credentials.

However, it has not been smooth sailing so far, with criticism directed his way after his military-based answer on a question about his views on the conflict in Gaza.

Gavin said: “It’s unconscionable that the bombing is still taking place when I believe that the military objectives have probably been reached for that military campaign."

The latest bump in the road has come from social media, in the form of what he is calling a smear campaign.

Several posts about Gavin have now been taken down off Facebook for violating community standards, while others are under investigation.

Posts with claims about him have also been put on TikTok and Instagram, while one post on X was seen over 700,000 times, and had not been taken down, despite Gavin writing to the company.

In a statement to the Irish Independent, he said: “I refuse to accept that the price of participating in public life should involve having to put your family and friends through waves of online abuse and malicious smears.

“This is not the cost of service – it is a failure of our digital culture.

“I will continue to take whatever ­action is necessary to confront this appalling feature of social media.

“We all need to call it out for what it is: totally unacceptable. Social media companies must do far more to protect people from such nasty and destructive behaviour online.”

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