AWDTSG Removal Ireland — Takedowns of Are We Dating The Same Guy Posts
Nationwide coverage across Ireland
72-hour typical turnaround
Ireland-wide group coverage
Confidential, no-obligation service
AWDTSG REMOVAL IRELAND: SCANS AND TAKEDOWNS, START TO FINISH
Most people who contact us have seen one post and have no idea whether it is the only one.
Irish content crosses in two directions that matter. Northwards into the Belfast group covering Northern Ireland — which is a different legal jurisdiction entirely, being part of the UK — and eastwards into the Liverpool, Manchester and London groups, reflecting the scale of Irish movement to and from Britain.
Donegal is a particular case. It sits in the Republic but is geographically closer to Derry than to Dublin, and in practice posts about Donegal residents can surface in the Northern Ireland group rather than either Irish one.
We scan the full network — Irish groups, the Northern Ireland group and the UK groups where relevant — before submitting anything, document every instance, and submit as a coordinated set rather than reporting posts one at a time.
Where content has spread beyond the AWDTSG network onto other platforms, we handle that through our social media takedown service using the same evidence package.
THE IRISH GROUPS: WHAT THEY COVER
Two official AWDTSG groups serve the Republic:
- Dublin — the capital and the greater Dublin area, by far the larger of the two
- Cork / Limerick / Galway / Tralee — effectively the entire rest of the country
That second group is the point worth pausing on. One group covers Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kerry, and by extension Waterford, Kilkenny, Sligo, Mayo, the midlands and the border counties — cities and counties with nothing in common and hours apart. Someone in Sligo is in the same group as someone in Tralee.
There is no group for Waterford or the south east, none for the midlands, and none for the north west. The network’s own guidance is to join the nearest listed group, so posts about people in those places appear somewhere else entirely. If you have searched for a group covering your county, found nothing, and concluded you are not affected, that reasoning runs backwards — no local group makes it more likely your post is somewhere you would not think to look.
Alongside the official groups there are imposter groups using the AWDTSG name and branding without operating under its policies, which is acknowledged by the network itself. Which type of group a post sits in changes how a takedown is framed, and identifying that is part of our initial scan.
HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE POSTED IN AN IRISH GROUP
The groups are private and admitted to women only. If you are the person being discussed, you cannot see them, cannot search them, and have no way of confirming a suspicion on your own.
Creating a false profile to gain entry breaches the platform’s terms, is grounds for removal of your account, and would undermine any takedown submission you later make. Asking a female friend to check is the usual alternative and it is unreliable — one search in one group misses reposts, and in a country this size it carries a second risk: that the person you ask knows the person who posted.
Our AWDTSG checker and search service scans both Irish groups and the wider network, confidentially, with nobody local involved. If nothing is there, you get that answer and nothing further happens.
HOW AWDTSG REMOVAL WORKS FOR IRISH CLIENTS
Confidential intake
A conversation, not a form. Nothing you share goes beyond our team, and we do not contact the poster, the group administrators, or anyone in your personal or professional life at any stage.
Evidence package
A documented record of every instance: post, group, date, visible reach and the specific content at issue. Where a post uses photographs you took, copyright provides a separate and often faster route, covered under image copyright protection.
Takedown submission
Submitted through platform reporting channels, framed against the specific policy provisions the content breaches. Precision matters more than volume.
Platform escalation
Where a first submission is refused or ignored, we escalate with further documentation. This is where most self-managed attempts stall.
Mirror sweep
A re-scan of the group network after removal, as part of the removal work.
Handover
The full documented record of what was found, submitted and removed. Continued watching beyond that point is available as a separate paid service.
Most cases see an initial platform response within 72 hours of submission. Outcomes depend on the content and on the platform’s assessment of it, and we tell you at intake how we rate your situation rather than promising a result the platform controls.
IRISH LAW AND AWDTSG CONTENT
General information, not legal advice. We are not a law firm, and Irish law is a separate system from the UK — advice from an Irish solicitor is worth more here than a UK equivalent.
Coco's Law — and why it reaches further than most people expect
The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, known as Coco’s Law after Nicole “Coco” Fox, commenced on 9 February 2021.
Most coverage of it focuses on intimate images, and section 2 does create an offence of distributing, publishing or threatening to distribute an intimate image without consent, with penalties on indictment of up to seven years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Section 3 creates a related offence with no requirement to prove intent.
But the provision that matters most for an ordinary AWDTSG post is section 4, which is not limited to intimate images at all. It makes it an offence to distribute, publish or send a threatening or grossly offensive communication with intent to cause harm — and it applies to a once-off communication as well as a repeated one. The Act also extended the existing harassment offence so that it covers communications about a person, not only communications to a person.
That combination is unusual. A screenshot of your dating profile with written allegations attached is a communication about you, published to a group, and there is no requirement that it contain an intimate image for section 4 to be engaged. Nothing in UK or Canadian law reaches quite that far.
The Act also provides anonymity for victims of these offences, which for anyone worried that pursuing the matter would create more exposure than it removes is a material reassurance.
Reference: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (Irish Statute Book)
Defamation — the 2026 reforms, and what they did not change
The Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 was signed on 19 February 2026, with most provisions commencing on 1 March 2026. It is the most significant reform of Irish defamation law since 2009.
Two features matter for someone in your position, and both are favourable.
The new serious harm test applies only to bodies corporate. Companies must now show that a statement caused, or was likely to cause, serious financial loss. That threshold was not extended to individuals. Unlike England and Wales, where s. 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 requires every claimant to demonstrate serious harm, an individual plaintiff in Ireland faces no such hurdle.
The Circuit Court gained a power to unmask anonymous posters. Section 22 of the 2026 Act created a statutory jurisdiction to order intermediary service providers to disclose identifying information where it is otherwise unavailable to the plaintiff. This is directly relevant to AWDTSG situations, where posts are frequently made by someone the subject cannot identify. Certain criteria must be met and the court weighs the interests involved, but the power now exists in statute where previously it did not.
The Act also abolished juries in High Court defamation actions, replaced the Reynolds common law defence with a statutory public interest defence, and strengthened the offer of amends procedure. Anti-SLAPP provisions giving effect to EU Directive 2024/1069 form part of the Act but were not commenced with the rest, pending separate legislation.
On timing: the limitation period for a defamation action in Ireland is one year from the date the statement was first published, with the court able to extend it to two years in certain circumstances. That is tighter than Canada and comparable to England and Wales, so delay costs options.
References: Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 (Irish Statute Book) · Defamation Act 2009
EU GDPR, Article 17 — and the Dublin advantage
Ireland is in the European Union, so EU GDPR applies rather than the UK version. Article 17 provides a right to erasure of personal data, enforced by the Data Protection Commission in Dublin.
This is where Ireland’s position is genuinely distinctive. Meta Platforms Ireland Limited is the data controller for users across Europe and is headquartered in Dublin. An Irish person making an erasure request is dealing with a company established in their own jurisdiction, supervised by their own national regulator — not with a foreign entity through a foreign process.
As elsewhere, the request is directed at the platform as controller rather than at the individual poster, who may fall within the household exemption for personal data processed for purely personal purposes.
Reference: Data Protection Commission — Right to erasure
Online safety regulation
Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland’s online safety and media regulator, established under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, with responsibility for online safety codes applying to platforms established in Ireland. Given how many major platforms have their European base in Dublin, that regulatory reach extends well beyond Ireland itself.
AWDTSG REMOVAL IRELAND: INDUSTRIES MOST AFFECTED
Ireland’s professional community is small enough that reputation carries unusually far, and its regulated professions carry the sharpest exposure — solicitors and barristers under the Law Society and the Bar of Ireland, medical and nursing staff under the Medical Council and NMBI, all operating complaints processes that begin regardless of merit.
Dublin's technology sector is the distinctive Irish exposure. The European headquarters of most major technology companies sit within a few square kilometres of each other, employing a workforce that moves between a limited number of employers, with international HR functions that run open-source screening as standard.
Financial services and the funds industry in the IFSC bring Central Bank fitness and probity considerations. Teaching carries particular exposure given the structure of the school system and the closeness of local communities. Agriculture and agri-food across rural Ireland run on long-standing family and community standing. Hospitality and tourism complete the picture.
IRISH CITIES AND REGIONS WE COVER
Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area
Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire, Swords, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, and the commuter counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.
Cork
Cork city and county, including Ballincollig, Douglas and the harbour towns.
Limerick and the Mid-West
Limerick city, Clare, Ennis and Shannon.
Galway and the West
Galway city, Mayo, Roscommon and Connemara.
Kerry and the South West
Tralee, Killarney and the peninsulas.
Waterford and the South East
Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow. No group covers the south east — posts surface in the Cork or Dublin groups.
The Midlands
Athlone, Tullamore, Portlaoise and Mullingar. No dedicated group.
The North West and Border Counties
Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal. No dedicated group, and Donegal in particular may see posts appear in the Northern Ireland group given the geography.
Nationwide Remote Service
Our entire process runs remotely and confidentially. There is no requirement to attend an office anywhere, and nobody local is involved in your matter.
ONGOING AWDTSG MONITORING FOR IRISH CLIENTS
Removal addresses what exists today. Reposting is most likely in the period immediately after a takedown, particularly where several members shared the original.
Continued watching of the group network is available as AWDTSG monitoring, a separate paid service priced independently of removal work.
PRICING FOR IRISH CLIENTS
Pricing is confirmed at consultation, based on what your situation actually involves. A single post in the Dublin group is a different job from content that has crossed into the Northern Ireland and UK groups.
There is no charge for the initial conversation and no obligation to proceed.
SUPPORT
If a post involves an intimate image, Hotline.ie is an Irish service that accepts reports of intimate image abuse and works with platforms on removal, including where content is hosted outside Ireland. We mention it because it exists and it helps, whether or not you engage us.
WHY IRISH CLIENTS CHOOSE MGMT REPUTATION
We are not a law firm. What we do is the operational work of getting content removed — locating every instance, documenting it properly, framing submissions against the right policy provisions, and escalating when a first attempt fails.
For Irish matters, the thing that matters most is that Ireland is not treated as an extension of the UK. It is a separate legal system with EU data protection, its own regulator, a defamation regime that was rewritten in 2026, and in Coco’s Law a statute that reaches ordinary harmful communications rather than only intimate images. A submission framed on UK law is framed on the wrong law.
We tell clients at intake what we assess their prospects to be, including when the answer is difficult. Every matter is handled confidentially, which in a country this size is not a small consideration.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I find out if I am posted at all?
You cannot check the groups yourself — they are private and women-only. Our checker service scans both Irish groups and the wider network, confidentially, with nobody local involved.
There is no group for my county. Am I still at risk?
Yes, and possibly more so. Two groups cover the whole Republic, so posts about people in Waterford, the midlands or the north west appear in the Dublin or Cork groups rather than anywhere local.
Does the new serious harm test stop me bringing a claim?
No. The serious harm threshold introduced by the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 applies to companies, not to individuals. An individual plaintiff in Ireland does not face that hurdle — unlike in England and Wales.
The person who posted about me is anonymous. Is there anything that can be done?
Possibly. Section 22 of the 2026 Act gave the Circuit Court a statutory power to order intermediaries to disclose identifying information where it is not otherwise available to a plaintiff. Criteria apply and the court weighs the competing interests, but the power now exists. Take Irish legal advice on whether it fits your situation.
Does Coco's Law only apply to explicit images?
No. Section 2 deals with intimate images, but section 4 covers threatening or grossly offensive communications generally, with intent to cause harm, and applies to a once-off communication. The harassment offence was also extended to cover communications about a person rather than only to them.
Is there a deadline for acting?
A defamation action must generally be brought within one year of first publication, extendable to two in certain circumstances. Erasure requests are not subject to that limit.
My post appeared in the Belfast group too. Does that matter?
Yes. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and a separate legal system with different rules. We identify cross-border spread during the scan because it changes what is available to you.
Will the poster know I contacted you?
No. We do not contact the poster, the group administrators, or anyone connected to you.
Do you handle cases outside Ireland?
Yes. All fifteen UK groups, every Canadian province, and all fifty US states.
BOOK A CONFIDENTIAL IRISH AWDTSG CONSULTATION
Tell us what you have found. We will scan for everything else, tell you what we assess is achievable, and set out costs before you commit to anything.
Ireland has some of the strongest legal protection in Europe for someone who has been posted about online, and almost nobody affected by it knows what is available.
Three things make the Irish position unusual. Coco’s Law criminalises not only intimate image sharing but a wider category of harmful communications, which means it can reach an ordinary text-and-screenshot post rather than only an explicit one. The defamation reforms that took effect in March 2026 introduced a serious harm threshold — but only for companies, so an individual plaintiff still faces no such hurdle. And those same reforms gave the Circuit Court a new power to order intermediaries to identify anonymous posters.
There is one more thing about Ireland that matters more than any of it. Meta’s European headquarters is in Dublin, which means the company responsible for the platform these groups run on is domiciled in the same jurisdiction as you.
MGMT Reputation handles AWDTSG post removal across Ireland. We work confidentially, through the platform’s own reporting and escalation channels, and we never contact the poster or the group administrators outside those channels.