Twitter has begun rolling out changes to its harassment reporting process, making it easier for people to report trolls.
The new reporting process is more mobile-friendly, and allows users who are receiving or observing abuse to flag Tweets and accounts for review more simply and quickly than before. Additional updates to Twitter's background processes enables faster response times to such complaints. A new blocked accounts page lists every account you've blocked, and these accounts will no longer be able to view your profile. The changes were announced last week.
TV personality Charlotte Dawson publicly battled trolls, particularly on Twitter. When Dawson committed suicide in February, her friends Em Mastronardi and Lara Harwood started an online petition entitled Charlotte's Law, calling on the federal government to introduce tougher laws on cyber bullying. Some 204,000 signatures have been collected, yet the petition's organisers say the government has done nothing.
"Cyber bullying is not a problem that will go away when swept under the carpet. This is an actual epidemic and it's affecting people's lives more than we know," said a statement from Ms Mastronardi and Ms Harwood.
The Federal Government has made some moves to protect children from cyber bullying.
On Wednesday, the Abbott government introduced the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Bill 2014 into parliament. If approved, an Office of e-Safety Commissioner will be created.
The commissioner will have the power to issue fines of up to $17,000 a day to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook if they don't comply with complaints to remove material that is harmful to children.
