1. By Valentina Todoroska

2.  Social media has caused
a transformation in the way in which we share, receive and
distribute news
 Individuals have a voice that is much louder and more
strongly dispersed through social media sites such as
Facebook and Twitter
 Twitter has an ability to facilitate mass discussion and
debate
 What happens when this debate is aimed at one person
and is faceless, hurtful and threatening?

3.  Prominent Australian celebrity
Charlotte Dawson was subject
to personal attacks on Twitter
 Channel Nines’s 60 Minutes:
Dawson outed a cyber troll
who had attacked one of her
Twitter supporters
 Channel Seven’s Today Tonight: Dawson tweeted “New
Zealand is small, nasty and vindictive. It’s a tiny little village…
A tiny country on the end of the earth”
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwnBGsyX8o

4.  How do we deal with the malicious comments
tweeted by these individuals?
 Where do we draw the line?
 What about the trending hashtag #diecharlotte
and re-tweeting?
 The nature of the internet and regulation
 The Convergence Review (2012): “No regulation
at all is necessary in the global digital world”
 Self regulation of internet users, is it enough?

5.  Dawson: “Attack me all you want, I’m a public
figure not a human being. You can sling an arrow
at me, I don’t have feelings, I don’t have
vulnerabilities so go me. I don’t care.”
 Dawson herself has made a career out of making
brutal comments on the TV show Australia’s Next
Top Model
 Was this an attack bound to happen?

6.  Dawson: “I had felt that because I am quite public and
people know where I am and what I do that my safety
could be in danger”
 Dr Andrew Morrison from the Australian Lawyers
Alliance believes Dawson’s only option is to seek an
AVO against the tweeters
 The tweets invite Dawson to harm herself and do not
suggest violence will be directed towards her
 Could not be prosecuted against under Australian law

7.  Is Dawson’s case an issue of freedom of speech?
 Australia has no express right to freedom of speech
 Assumed right, whether comments are justifiable or
not
 Twitter member Sieg Heil: “Freedom of speech… Go
kill yourself”
 What can be done to remedy these actions when they
are being made in a public domain?

8.  Questions of whether the whole
issue was purposely incited as
publicity for Dawson’s new book
 Little sympathy being given to
Dawson
 Many believe that as a public
figure Dawson should not be so
“sensitive”
 Should Dawson just “get offline”?

9.  Twitter: “You may not publish
or post direct, specific threats
of violence against others”
 Were the threats direct?
 Tweets encouraged Dawson to harm herself
 No individual said they would come after Dawson
 Twitter accounts involved in the incident have
been suspended

10.  Not possible to monitor every piece of
content that is uploaded to the internet
 The ACMA has been forced to rely on a
self regulatory approach
 Schedule 5 and 7 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992: The
ACMA has the power to investigate complaints about online
content
 Dawson could appeal to the ACMA directly but what would it
achieve?
 Content has already been removed by Twitter

11.  The Daily Telegraph
and the “Stop the
Trolls” campaign
 Zero tolerance
approach to cyber
bullying
 Barrage of celebrities
coming forward with
their own stories

12.  The Daily Telegraph under attack as a result
 Richard Ackland from The SMH: “A magnificent tension
between the old information world and the new”
 Jonathan Green from The Drum wrote an article titled “The
staggering hypocrisy of the super trollers”
 Richard Ford: Mixed reaction from the public due to
Dawson’s “over sharing” of personal information
 The ACMA and the “Protect yourself against trolling” section
of their website

13.  Australian Government Com Law. Through the Australian Government homepage. Retrieved September 15,
2012, from http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012C00624
 Channel Nine News. Through the Ninemsn homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8526323/dawson-opens-up-about-cyber-bullying
 Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. (2012). Convergence Review. pp. vii-176
 Online regulation. Through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) homepage. Retrieved
September 14, 2012, from http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_90154
 Pearson, M. and Polden, M. (2011). The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law. Crows Nest. Australia. Allen and Unwin.
 R, Ackland. (Friday 14th of September, 2012). Sometimes, it takes a troll to know one. The Sydney Morning
Herald, p. 13
 Sixty Minutes. Through Ninemsn homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8525498
 Sunrise: Charlotte Dawson speaks out. Through YouTube homepage. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwnBGsyX8o
 The Daily Telegraph. Through News Corporation website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/our-campaign-for-whom-the-bell-now-trolls/story-
e6freuzi-1226472968657
 The Drum. Through the ABC website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-
09-13/green-staggering-hypocrisy-of-the-supertrollers/4257706
 The Herald Sun. Through Fairfax website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/charlotte-dawson-how-the-cyber-trolls-beat-me/story-e6frf7jo-
1226463635667
 The Twitter Rules. Through the Twitter homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
https://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-abuse-or-policy-violations/topics/121-guidelines-best-
practices/articles/18311-the-twitter-rules#
 Today Tonight: The hateful twitter campaign directed at Charlotte Dawson. Through YouTube homepage.
Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2meMU5Mac
 Today Tonight. Through Yahoo! Seven News. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/celebrity/article/-/14700932/twitter-tirade/

14.  Should the tweeters be punished? If so, how and where do we
draw the line?
 Is it a case of “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw
stones”? Did Charlotte get what she deserves?
 Did Dawson handle the situation in the correct way by going
public or should she just “get offline”?
 Do you think The Daily Telegraph’s “Stop the Trolls” campaign is
justifiable? What do you feel its purpose is?
 Would the issue of trolling have gained the same amount of
momentum and coverage if the individual that was attacked
wasn’t a celebrity?