Trolls to face fines of more than $100,000 under tough world-first cyberbullying laws

Australia is set to introduce the world’s toughest takedown laws for online trolls.

Under the world-first legislation, adults can be fined up to $111,000 for posting material which causes serious harm, including posting revenge porn or death threats.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says the legal power to intervene when adults are experiencing cyber abuse is a new and important step.

“We serve as a safety net, so if a person experiences cyber abuse with the intent to cause harm … that’s reported to the social media site and isn’t taken down, they can come to us and we will advocate on their behalf,” she told Stephen Quartermain and Tony Leonard, filling in for Ross and Russel.

The eSafety Commissioner also has powers to ensure companies are enforcing rules on their own platforms, including transparency reports on anti-cyber bullying measures they are taking.

Australians who have contacted social media platforms about cyber bullying but have not had the content removed can visit esafety.gov.au for further advice.

“We would take out our little toolkit with all our remedial actions and see what we could do to get the content down … and if we were able to track down the troll whether or not we would file charges against that individual or the website if it repeatedly fails to take this kind of content down,” Ms Inman Grant said.

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Australia has introduced the world’s toughest takedown laws for online bullies.

Trolls to face fines of more than $100,000 under tough world-first cyberbullying laws