Don't feed the trolls: Social media self-defence tools

On Tuesday, Ms Inman Grant and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland launched a new report into online safety for Indigenous children and a package of resources aimed at helping First Nations people of all ages keep safe online.

"My entreaty to everyone in Australia is when you see online hate happening, report it to the platform and report it to eSafety - we have the powers to take it down," Ms Inman Grant said.

Professor Bronwyn Carlson, head of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University, has done extensive research into Indigenous people's experiences online.

She found many ugly things in her research, including social media groups that were set up to increase hatred towards Indigenous kids.

"On one of them I saw, they were calling for an annual cull of Indigenous kids," Professor Carlson said.

"Another, they were calling for people who knew how to use weapons against our kids.

"Other posts I've seen where people have said that bull bars on the front of cars are best used to mow Aboriginal kids down. That was in the wake of (Kalgoorlie teenager) Elijah Doughty being killed after being hit by a car.

"It's not meant to be 'humorous', not just like some sort of racist 'humour' if you can even call it that - these are actual people calling for threats of violence to Indigenous kids."

The report, Cool, Beautiful, Strange and Scary: the online experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their parents and care givers, is based on much of the research by Prof Carlson.

It shows young Indigenous people use the internet in greater than average numbers to explore the world, make new friends, connect with people from different backgrounds, and discuss social and political issues.

However, First Nations youth face a greater risk of exposure to a range of harmful content and are nearly three times more likely to report experiencing hate speech.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said technology can be a great tool to build connection, support identity and boost civic engagement.

"But today's research from the eSafety Commissioner is a reminder it also carries risks, with young Indigenous Australians more likely to be exposed to harmful content or hate speech attacks," she said.

"As with so many other areas where disadvantage undermines health and wellbeing, more work is needed to ensure equal protections and access to the good things the internet can provide.

"This is especially so as we begin the referendum process to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Australian constitution."

Prof Carlson agrees that in the lead-up to the referendum the online environment is already becoming even more toxic.

She also says when Aboriginal sportspeople are racially abused - like the recent cases of AFL player Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and NRL player Latrell Mitchell - it can affect Indigenous children.

"These players are heroes and role models to a lot of Indigenous kids and for them to see them constantly badgered by that racist stuff, it would be easy for young people to think that that's the way it is, a sort of normalisation of racism," Prof Carlson said.

Ms Inman Grant said the eSafety Commission now has powers around adult cyber abuse and also youth-based cyber bullying - and they're not afraid to use them.

She said they were working with the referendum working groups on "social media self-defence training".

"Targeted online hate and abuse is used to silence and people do learn to self censor," Ms Inman Grant said.

"A lot of the information in here is around how you build your psychological armour.

"We can't underestimate what an explosion of online hate this could result in if we don't try and get ahead of it and get a handle on it and help those in the community who we do expect will be raising their voices."

Australian Associated Press