Cyberbullying, trolling and flaming. The Sunday Age Editorial clearly explains that Social Media Users are NOT above the law. This means teenagers too are NOT above the law.

In the world behind a screen teens sometimes think (or don’t think perhaps) that they can write anything. We have seen this of late in the real world: on Twitter where trolls have said the most unspeakably malicious things about model, Charlotte Dawson, where Facebookers have explicitly and brazenly defamed Rosa Storelli, once Principal of MLC, without an iota of evidence, and where police have had to take the unprecedented step of warning Facebook users to be circumspect in their comments regarding Jill Meagher’s alleged murderer because comments may jeopardise legal proceedings.

Each of these examples are gold chances for your to talk to your teen about their use of Social Media and how they too must abide by real world laws or face real world consequences.

As the Age Editorial states: ‘In defamation law, there can be no doubt that comments posted on social media can be the basis of litigation. (As well) the law prohibiting the use of a carriage service to threaten or harass has been used in the successful prosecution of at least two people in recent years.’

Rules governing the real world apply in cyberspace too.