NSW Police corporate spokesman for social media Strath Gordon said Australian authorities relied on the Commonwealth Criminal Code to charge people using a carriage service such as social media to menace, harass and cause offence.
His comments coincide with inquiries about a Facebook page promoting violent street fights between Indigenous Australians.
“There is no specific social media legislation in Australia currently,” he said.
“Other forms of existing legislation are being used for law enforcement agencies.”
Mr Gordon said if guilty, people could face up to three years in jail under the provisions.
“There are some significant penalties in place for people that do use the internet for badness,” he said.
“… People aren’t invisible online. Police do have the opportunity to track down the perpetrators.”
Mr Gordon said complaints regarding online harassment and offensive sites were increasing as part of a “growing problem” surrounding social media.
Platforms such as Facebook have also been used to promote illegal behaviour such as street fights, as seen in one site featuring violence between Indigenous Australians.
Some contributors have described it as an “Aboriginal fighting page”, but it is unclear if the page is operated by Indigenous Australians.
The site follows the controversy surrounding a racist Facebook page targeting Aboriginal people, which was removed in 2012 after several months online.
The “Aboriginal Memes” page was removed after an online petition attracted more than 15,000 supporters in less than 24 hours.
Launched by Brisbane woman Jacinta O’Keefe, it garnered more than 20,000 signatures, urging Facebook to take down the page hosting memes of derogatory Aboriginal stereotypes.
Ms O'Keefe said the page had been dedicated to stereotyping Aboriginal people as drunks, addicts and welfare abusers.
“There are many memes that completely belittle the rich heritage of the Aboriginal people," she said.
"It is an openly racist page that is encouraging hate towards Aboriginal people.”
The page was relabelled as “controversial humour” before being removed amid an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
A spokesman for the Authority said investigations into a number of URLs on Facebook were terminated after the content was withdrawn.
He said the Authority investigated online content which may be potentially offensive or illegal, in accordance with regulations laid out in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.
