The page features graphic violence from contributors nationwide, with videos and comments identifying towns such as Toomelah, Moranbah, Cairns and Toowoomba.
Commenters have described it as an “Aboriginal fighting page”, but it is unclear if the page is operated by Indigenous Australians.
One video shows a man being grabbed by the hair before being kneed in the head, while others can be heard off camera encouraging the fight.
Another shows two women punching each other while children laugh in the background.
In addition to the videos, the more than 15,000 fans of the page have left numerous comments using derogatory language to stereotype Aboriginals as drunk and disadvantaged financially.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane said the site could be defensible under the proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
Dr Soutphommasane said there had been an increase in complaints to the Human Rights Commission involving online abuse, but such activities on social media could be argued as social or political commentary under Attorney-General George Brandis’s proposed changes.
“What you have in the exposure draft is a very, very broad exception for anything that involves public discussion,” he said.
“It may well be possible to defend such websites as participation in public debate or discussion.”
If introduced, he said the changes could incite violence rather than deter it.
“The last thing we should be thinking about doing as a society is giving license to people to harass or abuse people on racial grounds,” he said.
“When we are complacent about such matters, that problem can escalate very quickly and vilification can escalate to violence.”
The Attorney-General declined from commenting.
Social media academic Lubna Alam said the page was one of the many “hate sites” online.
The University of Canberra lecturer said pages and groups could be reported to server providers, but the majority were either left operating or restarted under another name.
“The possibility that anyone can create a page and then promote or glorify behaviours that are usually unacceptable to society are getting quite common now today because of the easy availability of creating these sites,” she said.
“One of the problems with these types of behaviour is that there’s not an easy way to stop these sites.”
Increasing concern among Indigenous communities over the use of social media prompted the creation of Be Deadly Online, a program highlighting the real life consequences of online behaviour.
Project manager Sarah Hayton said the 18 month project, launched by the Australian Communications and Media Authority this month, was kick started by Indigenous members of the Carnarvon community in Western Australia.
“They experienced severe consequences, particularly cultural consequences, due to the use of social media,” she said.
Bernadine Yeatman, an Indigenous woman involving in creating Be Deadly Online, said there were community concerns over the potential impacts of social media use.
The Indigenous elder from Yarrabah in north Queensland said the community wanted a solution to the “Facebook problem”.
“Social media is beyond our control and with a lot of young people,” she said.
“The thing that they do when they get something new, they’ll try and they’ll make a lot of mistakes.”
