If someone is in immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000), the national emergency number for when a life is at risk or time is critical. eSafety says threats to someone’s safety can also be reported to the police.
Five steps, in this order
The order matters. Blocking first, or deleting first, can remove the very thing a platform or eSafety will ask to see.
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Don’t delete it, and don’t block yet
eSafety asks people to resist clearing abusive messages or comments away straight off, and to collect the evidence first. It explains that it can be difficult to prove what happened once the person responsible is blocked. Until then, its suggestion is to mute or ignore the accounts inside the app, and to hold off on blocking until it has given advice.
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Capture the evidence
eSafety’s list of what to save:
- the service or platform used to send or share the content
- the web address (URL) where it appeared
- the usernames and profile URLs of the accounts involved
- the times and dates it was sent or shared.
On a phone, where no address bar shows, eSafety suggests tapping the share icon and choosing “copy link”, then pasting it into your records. It also suggests moving screenshots out of your recent photos into a separate file, so you don’t keep seeing them.
A single comment may not look abusive on its own. eSafety notes that you may need to show it was part of a wider pattern, so it helps to record how often the contact happened.
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Report it to the platform
eSafety calls reporting to the service or platform “often the fastest way” to have content removed. Keep what the platform gives back: eSafety will ask for evidence that you complained to the platform first, such as a receipt, reference number or report number.
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Go to eSafety if it is serious and the platform doesn’t help
For eSafety to investigate, the content must meet the legal definition of adult cyber abuse: there are two tests and both must be met. It has to be meant to cause “serious harm”, and in all the circumstances it has to be menacing, harassing or offensive. The person targeted can report it, or someone they have authorised to report on their behalf.
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Then limit further contact
Once the evidence is safe (and, if you are reporting to eSafety, after its advice), eSafety suggests using in-app functions to ignore, mute or block the other person, and updating privacy settings.
A bad review is not abuse
This is the line most worth knowing for a business page. eSafety says the “serious harm” threshold is set deliberately high, to balance freedom of speech against the need to protect people online, and that the scheme was never meant for banter, strong opinions, bad online reviews, damage that is purely to reputation, or hurt feelings.
So a one-star review that stings sits outside eSafety’s scheme, and belongs with the ordinary complaints on card 1. A comment that publishes a staff member’s home address to scare them is different: eSafety lists personal contact details made public to scare, harass or attack someone among the kinds of abuse likely to meet its threshold.
What eSafety can and can’t do
| eSafety can | eSafety cannot |
|---|---|
| Ask a platform informally to remove the content, which it says generally results in faster removal. | Tell you who is behind an anonymous or fake account. |
| Issue a removal notice requiring all reasonable steps to remove the content within 24 hours, or a longer time it specifies. | Charge anyone with a criminal offence. |
| Warn or fine the person responsible, or seek a civil penalty order, if they don’t comply with a removal notice. | Take further action once the content has been deleted or removed. |
| Refer you to resources and counselling services. | Give legal advice. |
Where abuse is aimed at a group rather than one person, eSafety says the Australian Human Rights Commission may be able to help.
The people behind the page
When staff moderate the page, reading the comments is part of their work, and eSafety is plain that online abuse is not part of doing a job. It says work health and safety laws require employers to take care of workers’ health and safety, including managing the risks of online abuse, which can come from customers and clients as well as colleagues.
From eSafety’s checklist for a safer online workplace, the items that touch a business page most directly:
- Keep staff off their own phone numbers and personal social accounts when they deal with customers or clients.
- Get a worker’s informed consent before putting their full name, photo or video, or other details about them, online.
- Avoid simple email naming conventions, such as full names, that make it easy for others to contact workers directly.
- Moderate public content on your platforms, and consider turning off comments or sharing if needed.
- Explain to workers how to collect evidence of serious online abuse, noting the date, time and URLs.
One more line from the same page: before acting for a person who may be the target of online abuse, ask for their consent.
Other cards on the board