Online Safety Bill Passed - Bullies Will No Longer Be Protected Behind Fake Social Media Profiles

Yesterday, the Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Bill.

Championing this movement, Host and Journalist at Channel 9 and 2DayFM, Erin Molan said in a LinkedIn post.

“This new legislation will ensure the laws that exist in real life will now exist online. It will help keep our children safer - and every Australian adult .

It will help hold perpetrators to account - remove their anonymity and create genuine real life deterrents.

It will force big social media companies to act. It will NOT infringe on free speech in any way, shape or form - the threshold for abuse/threats/harmful content is aligned to the criminal code.

Thank you to everyone who has fought so hard and to everyone who has supported me in this fight. I will thank you all personally over the next few days. I took my daughter into Parliament House with me when this bill was introduced last week because I wanted to be able to tell her one day she was there when something really special happened… when Australia did something important before anywhere else in the world. This will save lives. Thank you”.

As someone who has been a victim of social media bullying from within the real estate industry, even coming from the highest levels, I know first hand how dangerous this type of behavior can be. The inaction taken from governing bodies only reinforces to those involved that their behavior is ok. While we at bespoke have been pushing our governing bodies to make change in this space, sadly our concerns were not met, and ultimately, swept under the rug.

While I’ve never met or spoken with Erin personally, I would like to thank her for using her position, and voice to make a change that’s going to help so many people. My hope is everyone who has a voice or a platform uses it where they see injustice.

Nic Fren