Hobart Mercury: Facebook feels heat on bullies

SOCIAL media giants such as Facebook and Instagram will face fines of up to $17,000 a day if they repeatedly refuse to take down offensive and harassing material directed at Aussie kids.

The anti-trolling legislation will be introduced today by the Federal Government, which will create a new authority to fight cyber-bullying.

The office of the Children's E-Safety Commissioner will be empowered to demand social media organisations silence cyber bullies by taking down offensive content directed at young people.

Under the new laws, internet users including other kids who post offensive material can also be directed to take down the remarks and apologise to the child, or face a Federal Court injunction.

Parliamentary secretary for communications Paul Fletcher said $17,000 fines would be issued to big social media companies that repeatedly failed to take down harmful cyber bullying material "for each day that the services does not act in response to the Commissioner".

He said the Commissioner would be given a significant team of support staff because it was expected there would be many complaints.

The Government's research has shown one in five children are victims of online bullying and classroom teachers and principals are reporting that an increasing amount of their teaching time is being absorbed by dealing with social media stoushes.