In a bid to address the issue of misuse, the Dublin Portal will be temporarily closed from 10pm on Tuesday evening. The Portal, which has been a popular attraction since its inception, creates a live connection from North Earl Street in Dublin to passers-by on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Gathering large crowds on a daily basis, it has even been a location for an engagement proposal since it started operating on 8th May. However, not all the attention the Portal has received has been positive. Some users in Dublin have been displaying indecent visuals, while one individual shared footage of the Twin Towers burning on 9/11.
The problematic behaviour was not restricted to Dublin users either, with the New York portal being temporarily shut down after an OnlyFans model exposed herself on camera and later published the footage on TikTok and Instagram. The Dublin Portal also had to pause operations but resumed on Monday night as Dublin City Council looked for ways to control the posting of inappropriate content via mobile phones.
On Tuesday evening, the council shared a statement. It reinforced that the staff at Portals.org, the team running the Portal art project, have been exploring potential technical changes to deal with the misconduct of a small group of users. Regrettably, their promising solution – blurring – was not deemed sufficient.
Consequently, the Portal will be unplugged at 10pm on Tuesday, and the team anticipates it will reactivate later this week as per information from Portals.org. The council highlighted that majority of the Irish public have conducted themselves suitably and that the Portal’s popularity has led to it becoming a “worldwide sensation.” They also expressed their delight over the significant number of people who have used and enjoyed the Portal since it was first switched on.