The Tasmanian Greens today (Thursday) expressed concerns over a disturbing online bullying trend on the social media website Facebook.
Greens Member for Braddon Paul O’Halloran MP said it had been drawn to his attention that a growing number of Tasmanian-based pages are being set up with the sole purpose of publishing humiliating and defamatory allegations about young people’s sexual activities.
“Not only is this kind of activity spiteful and cruel, it is also defamatory and could result in severe court penalties for those who are caught spreading cruel rumours,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“This kind of hateful material can have devastating effects on the confidence and self-esteem of young people who are the targets of online bullying and defamation.”
“Vigilance is important in preventing this kind of behaviour, and anybody who discovers one of these pages should report it immediately to the website’s administrators requesting that it be taken down.”
“Cyber-bullying is a troubling problem, and it’s often the case that the perpetrators don’t understand the seriousness of their actions and don’t realise the harm it causes their victims.”
Mr O’Halloran also congratulated the organisers of tonight’s forum in Ulverstone focusing on cyber-bullying and problem internet use.
“This is a passionate, grassroots campaign driven by a group of parents who are fed up with seeing the effects of cyber-bullying and other inappropriate internet use.”
“The group’s message is that it’s vital for parents to engage with their children from a very young age to explain why it’s important to use the internet safely and responsibly.
“Children begin learning how to use computers from a very early age, so it’s never too early to start teaching them about the pitfalls of things like social networking and mobile phone text messaging.”
