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ABC AM: Social media companies face fines in cyber bullying crackdown
CHRIS UHLMANN: Social media sites will be targeted under plans by the Abbott Government to crack down on the cyber bullying of children.
The Government will today introduce a bill into Parliament to appoint a commissioner with the power to order large social media services and individuals to remove offensive material posted online.
Technology companies face fines of $17,000 a day if material targeting a child is not removed, and individuals face legal action under existing laws.
Sue Lannin reports.
SUE LANNIN: Social media sites like Facebook are a big part of most children's lives. But university researchers say around one in five older children in Australia has been bullied online.
Now the Federal Government plans to appoint a children's e-safety commissioner to crack down on online bullying under the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Bill 2014.
Paul Fletcher is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Communications Minister.
PAUL FLETCHER: The children's e-safety commissioner issues a notice requiring a large social media service to take down this cyber bullying material targeted at an Australian child.
Then obviously the service has a very strong incentive to do so because it is exposed to this fine for each day that it does not respond to that notice.
SUE LANNIN: Technology companies face fines of $17,000 a day if they don't respond to a takedown notice.
Paul Fletcher says the children's commissioner will take complaints from parents and be able to force individuals to take down offensive posts.
PAUL FLETCHER: That notice can ask the person to remove the material, to apologise, to refrain from posting similar material targeted at the child who complained.
Now, if the recipient of the notice fails to respond then the commissioner will have the power to go to court and seek an injunction. The other path that will be open to the commissioner to take will be to refer then the matter to police.
If a complaint is made to the children's e-safety commissioner and the commissioner then refers it to police, then it's much more likely that the police will take it seriously.
SUE LANNIN: Internet companies like Google and Microsoft say that existing state and territory laws already outlaw cyber bullying. They're opposed to the forced removal of material.
Paul Fletcher denies there will be over-regulation.
PAUL FLETCHER: Oh look, we've had vigorous and continuing engagement with certainly Microsoft, Yahoo7, Facebook, Google, Twitter and other players.
I do want to acknowledge here that the large social media services have significantly increased the amount of resources they allocate to dealing with complaints of cyber bullying and other such content.
We are conscious of not imposing any more additional regulatory burden than is necessary to keep Australian children safe online.
SUE LANNIN: Organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Law Council have also raised freedom of speech concerns. They're worried that the definition of cyber bullying material could be too broad.
Paul Fletcher says the Government has listened to feedback about the draft law.
PAUL FLETCHER: We've certainly worked through very carefully what the definition of cyber bullying material targeted at an Australian child is. And it's important that we strike the right balance. We don't want to be over-regulating, so material that is merely frivolous.
On the other hand, this is designed to be a set of effective regulatory tools to produce a rapid response when a child is being exposed to cyber bullying - not least because the strong evidence is that when children are subject to cyber bullying they feel very much like they're being humiliated or intimidated in the public view, given the nature of social media that lots of other people can see it, and that what they're after most of all is to get the material taken down quickly.
CHRIS UHLMANN: Parliamentary Secretary to the Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, ending that report by Sue Lannin.
