Snapchat and other "smaller" social media firms will not fall under the legal scope of the federal government's crackdown on cyberbullying.
Instead a new government body will chat with such firms behind the scenes in a bid to make them play ball and take down offensive material when asked.
Paul Fletcher, the Parliamentary Secretary for Communications, says it's impossible to legislate for overseas-based firms with little Australian connection.
"We will be pursuing an informal, rather than strict legal, approach," he said in a speech at a conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Mr Fletcher is spearheading new laws to ensure harmful cyberbullying material is quickly pulled from the internet.
The laws, planned for introduction to parliament before year's end, will establish a new Office of the Children's E-Safety Commissioner to handle complaints and take-downs.
In his speech, Mr Fletcher revealed the commissioner will oversee a two-tier system targeted at "large" firms such Facebook and Twitter.
Firms granted "Tier One" status will be expected to voluntarily act on legitimate take-down requests from the public in a "timely manner".
If they don't, the commissioner can make a direct request.
Firms who repeatedly ignore requests risk being placed in "Tier Two", where they will face legal obligations to remove content and face civil penalties for non-compliance.
Mr Fletcher calculated that larger firms with local employees and advertising revenue will comply to protect their reputation.
Smaller firms present a different proposition, but he says he's confident they'll comply with requests even in the absence of legal powers.
"By building relationships with overseas-based sites, the commissioner is likely in many cases to be able to achieve the desired policy intention," he said.
Mr Fletcher has previously said such sites could be named and shamed when they don't comply.
He also confirmed the commissioner will issue formal notices to users asking them to remove offensive material or risk court injunctions or referral to police.
However, the laws will stop short of empowering the commissioner to impose fines on users, because many are children.
A criminal offence for cyberbullying, as has been introduced in the UK and New Zealand, was ruled out earlier in the year.
Share
