Cyber-bullying: Law firm plan would allow civil action against trolls and social media giants

CYBER-BULLYING victims would be able to sue their trolls and even Facebook and Instagram under a radical plan from one of the country’s biggest law firms.

Cyber-bullying, often from beneath the cloak of anonymity, can make life miserable for many young people.

CYBER-BULLYING victims would be able to sue their trolls and even social media companies such as Facebook and Instagram under a radical plan from one of the country’s biggest law firms.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers is calling on the federal government to introduce laws allowing cyber-victims to claim damages from both the bullies and the platforms they use.

It comes after The Saturday Telegraph last week revealed anti-bullying advocates want to criminalise cyber-bullying with the introduction of a new kind of apprehended violence order for offenders.

Josh Bornstein: “We need to have a dual system where people can also take civil action.”

Michael Legg believed such a plan would need to be drawn up “very carefully”.

Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein said that a new “civil regimen” was needed to help clean up cyberspace.

“At the moment the watchdog is the police but because of the volumes of cases it means they will never be able to pursue all of them,” he said.

“That’s why we need to have a dual system where people can also take civil action.”

Mr Bornstein said if introduced the plan would put a greater onus on companies such as Facebook and Instagram to ensure they took action to stop bullies.

SOCIAL MEDIA AGE LIMITS ‘COMPLETE JOKE’

“At the moment it is the wild west with very little regulation, but if you were able to take action against the platforms if they hadn’t taken reasonable steps to stop the abuse from happening it would force them to act,” he said.

“Initially there would be an explosion of claims, but once this happened I think the big social media companies would be forced to ramp up the action they take against trolls.”

University of NSW Professor of Law Michael Legg said while the plan could help act as deterrent it would need to be legislated “very carefully” to ensure there wasn’t a “lawyers’ picnic” of “frivolous claims”.