It's understood the military is examining social media posts by troops, in search of evidence of far right extremism as well as homophobia within the ranks.
A union representing those in the defence forces says using social media to express views on public health restrictions is inappropriate.
While it's also been revealed serving and retired soldiers are posting anti vaccine material online and describing the enforcement of health restrictions like that of a totalitarian state.
Conor King, General Secretary of Raco, says defence force members are also susceptible to misinformation:
"The prevalence of anonymous trolling is extremely problematic. Also, social media has given rise to a lot of disinformation where people get sucked into rabbit holes. Soldiers are obviously susceptible to this, like any citizen."
King also says members of the military need to be careful of posting inflammatory content on social media:
"The thing about being a serving military personnel is that you're held up to two types of standards - civil law and military law."
