The document discusses a case where Australian celebrity Charlotte Dawson received abusive and threatening tweets online. It examines issues around regulating online speech, how public figures should respond to cyberbullying, and debates around freedom of speech versus protection from harassment. Questions are raised about where to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable online comments, and how public Dawson's response has been, given her own outspoken public persona in the past.

1. By Valentina Todoroska

2.  Social media has caused
a transformation in the way in which we share, receive and
distribute news
 Individuals have a voice that is much louder and more
strongly dispersed through social media sites such as
Facebook and Twitter
 Twitter has an ability to facilitate mass discussion and
debate
 What happens when this debate is aimed at one person
and is faceless, hurtful and threatening?

3.  Prominent Australian celebrity
Charlotte Dawson was subject
to personal attacks on Twitter
 Channel Nines’s 60 Minutes:
Dawson outed a cyber troll
who had attacked one of her
Twitter supporters
 Channel Seven’s Today Tonight: Dawson tweeted “New
Zealand is small, nasty and vindictive. It’s a tiny little village…
A tiny country on the end of the earth”
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwnBGsyX8o

4.  How do we deal with the malicious comments
tweeted by these individuals?
 Where do we draw the line?
 What about the trending hashtag #diecharlotte
and re-tweeting?
 The nature of the internet and regulation
 The Convergence Review (2012): “No regulation
at all is necessary in the global digital world”
 Self regulation of internet users, is it enough?

5.  Dawson: “Attack me all you want, I’m a public
figure not a human being. You can sling an arrow
at me, I don’t have feelings, I don’t have
vulnerabilities so go me. I don’t care.”
 Dawson herself has made a career out of making
brutal comments on the TV show Australia’s Next
Top Model
 Was this an attack bound to happen?

6.  Dawson: “I had felt that because I am quite public and
people know where I am and what I do that my safety
could be in danger”
 Dr Andrew Morrison from the Australian Lawyers
Alliance believes Dawson’s only option is to seek an
AVO against the tweeters
 The tweets invite Dawson to harm herself and do not
suggest violence will be directed towards her
 Could not be prosecuted against under Australian law

7.  Is Dawson’s case an issue of freedom of speech?
 Australia has no express right to freedom of speech
 Assumed right, whether comments are justifiable or
not
 Twitter member Sieg Heil: “Freedom of speech… Go
kill yourself”
 What can be done to remedy these actions when they
are being made in a public domain?

8.  Questions of whether the whole
issue was purposely incited as
publicity for Dawson’s new book
 Little sympathy being given to
Dawson
 Many believe that as a public
figure Dawson should not be so
“sensitive”
 Should Dawson just “get offline”?

9.  Twitter: “You may not publish
or post direct, specific threats
of violence against others”
 Were the threats direct?
 Tweets encouraged Dawson to harm herself
 No individual said they would come after Dawson
 Twitter accounts involved in the incident have
been suspended

10.  Not possible to monitor every piece of
content that is uploaded to the internet
 The ACMA has been forced to rely on a
self regulatory approach
 Schedule 5 and 7 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992: The
ACMA has the power to investigate complaints about online
content
 Dawson could appeal to the ACMA directly but what would it
achieve?
 Content has already been removed by Twitter

11.  The Daily Telegraph
and the “Stop the
Trolls” campaign
 Zero tolerance
approach to cyber
bullying
 Barrage of celebrities
coming forward with
their own stories

12.  The Daily Telegraph under attack as a result
 Richard Ackland from The SMH: “A magnificent tension
between the old information world and the new”
 Jonathan Green from The Drum wrote an article titled “The
staggering hypocrisy of the super trollers”
 Richard Ford: Mixed reaction from the public due to
Dawson’s “over sharing” of personal information
 The ACMA and the “Protect yourself against trolling” section
of their website

13.  Australian Government Com Law. Through the Australian Government homepage. Retrieved September 15,
2012, from http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012C00624
 Channel Nine News. Through the Ninemsn homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8526323/dawson-opens-up-about-cyber-bullying
 Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. (2012). Convergence Review. pp. vii-176
 Online regulation. Through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) homepage. Retrieved
September 14, 2012, from http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_90154
 Pearson, M. and Polden, M. (2011). The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law. Crows Nest. Australia. Allen and Unwin.
 R, Ackland. (Friday 14th of September, 2012). Sometimes, it takes a troll to know one. The Sydney Morning
Herald, p. 13
 Sixty Minutes. Through Ninemsn homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8525498
 Sunrise: Charlotte Dawson speaks out. Through YouTube homepage. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwnBGsyX8o
 The Daily Telegraph. Through News Corporation website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/our-campaign-for-whom-the-bell-now-trolls/story-
e6freuzi-1226472968657
 The Drum. Through the ABC website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-
09-13/green-staggering-hypocrisy-of-the-supertrollers/4257706
 The Herald Sun. Through Fairfax website. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/charlotte-dawson-how-the-cyber-trolls-beat-me/story-e6frf7jo-
1226463635667
 The Twitter Rules. Through the Twitter homepage. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
https://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-abuse-or-policy-violations/topics/121-guidelines-best-
practices/articles/18311-the-twitter-rules#
 Today Tonight: The hateful twitter campaign directed at Charlotte Dawson. Through YouTube homepage.
Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2meMU5Mac
 Today Tonight. Through Yahoo! Seven News. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/celebrity/article/-/14700932/twitter-tirade/

14.  Should the tweeters be punished? If so, how and where do we
draw the line?
 Is it a case of “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw
stones”? Did Charlotte get what she deserves?
 Did Dawson handle the situation in the correct way by going
public or should she just “get offline”?
 Do you think The Daily Telegraph’s “Stop the Trolls” campaign is
justifiable? What do you feel its purpose is?
 Would the issue of trolling have gained the same amount of
momentum and coverage if the individual that was attacked
wasn’t a celebrity?