Someone threatened you on Facebook or Instagram: how to report it in Australia
A threatening comment on your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Threads page can be reported to three places: the police, the platform, and the eSafety Commissioner. Which one, and in what order, depends on whether anyone is in danger. This guide sets out the decision, the evidence to preserve before you touch the comment, and what each report needs. It is written for MPs, councils, clubs and public figures in Australia, and for the staff who read the comments on their behalf.
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Before you read on. Clarify is software, not a lawyer, and this guide is general information for Australia, not legal advice. Take it with a grain of salt and check it against your own circumstances, your state's police, or a lawyer. Clarify's AI classification can miss a threat, or flag something that is not one, so a person still has to read the comments; if something feels wrong and Clarify has not flagged it, trust yourself and act. And Clarify never contacts the police, a platform or the eSafety Commissioner on your behalf. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 000 now.
The three mistakes that lose a case
- Deleting or blocking first. A deleted comment, or an account you have blocked, is gone from your view and often from the platform's. Capture first, then act.
- A screenshot on someone's phone. It has no URL, no account identifier and no reliable time. Police and eSafety will ask for all three.
- Waiting for it to get worse. A single comment that names a place, a time or a weapon is already enough to act on. The pattern can be added later.
The five steps, in order
Decide whether anyone is in danger right now
If the comment threatens violence against a specific person, names a time or a place, or mentions a weapon, treat it as an emergency: call 000. For a threat that is serious but not immediate, the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 reaches your state or territory police. Federal MPs, senators and their staff report threats to the AFP, which handles threats against Commonwealth parliamentarians.
Preserve the evidence before you hide, delete or block
You need the comment text, the account's display name and handle, the URL of the post it was left on, the date and time, and a screenshot that shows the comment in context. If you use Clarify, all of this is already recorded in the threat log the moment the comment is classified, and the record stays even if the commenter deletes it. If you do not, capture it by hand now and write down the time.
Report it to the platform
Use the platform's own report option on the comment (Facebook, Instagram and Threads share one flow; TikTok has its own). Keep the report reference or a screenshot of the confirmation. This step matters for what comes next: the eSafety Commissioner expects you to have tried the platform first.
If the platform does not act, report to eSafety
The eSafety Commissioner's adult cyber abuse scheme covers material aimed at an Australian adult that is menacing, harassing or offensive and intended to cause serious harm. You can report to eSafety once you have reported to the platform and 48 hours have passed without the material being removed. eSafety can issue a removal notice to the platform, which then has 24 hours to comply. Reports are made at esafety.gov.au/report.
Hand the police a pack, not a link
A police report goes faster when you arrive with one document: who the subject is on the platform, every threatening comment in date order with its URL and time, what you have already done (hidden, reported, muted), and anything that connects this account to others. In Clarify, Raise case on the account opens exactly that, and Download PDF produces the pack with every item numbered.
What a police-ready report contains
The report that gets taken seriously is boring on purpose. It identifies the subject the way the platform does (name, handle and profile link, not a nickname), lists each comment with a timestamp in a stated time zone, cites each piece of evidence by number, and separates fact from assessment. A summary of why the behaviour is concerning belongs at the top; the full comment history belongs at the back.
Clarify's case report follows that shape: the case details and who prepared it, how the subject is identified, an AI-written summary and analysis that can only cite evidence it was shown, the key incidents, recommended authorities, what has already been done, and the numbered evidence with links back to the original comments. Every time is in your workspace's time zone, and the PDF exists even before a report is generated, holding the evidence and comment record alone.
The law, in one paragraph
Threatening someone online is a crime in Australia under both Commonwealth and state law. The Commonwealth Criminal Code makes it an offence to use a carriage service (which includes social media) to make a threat to kill or to cause serious harm, and separately to use a carriage service in a way that a reasonable person would find menacing, harassing or offensive. Every state and territory also has its own offences covering threats, stalking and intimidation. The Online Safety Act 2021 sits alongside these: it does not create a criminal offence, but it gives the eSafety Commissioner the power to have the material removed. None of this is legal advice; it is the map of who to call, written by a software company, and worth checking with a lawyer before you rely on it.
If the person being threatened is under 18, the eSafety Commissioner's cyberbullying scheme applies instead of the adult scheme, with a lower threshold and no requirement to wait for the platform.
Who this guide is for
- Electorate and ministerial offices, where the staff reading the comments are the ones who have to decide whether a threat is real. See how social media threat monitoring handles that decision.
- Councils and public authorities, who cannot close the page and need a process that any staff member can follow.
- Sporting clubs and athletes, where one account often targets several people and the club needs the pattern, not one screenshot.
- Candidates during a campaign, when the first threat arrives before anyone has agreed what to do with it. The campaign guide covers setting that up in a week.
Frequently asked questions
Should I hide a threatening comment before I report it?
Capture the evidence first, then hide it. Hiding on Facebook, Instagram and Threads uses the platform's own hide, which keeps the comment visible to the person who wrote it and removes it for everyone else, so nothing is lost. Deleting the comment or blocking the account before you have captured the text, the account, the post URL and the time can leave you with nothing to report.
Is it illegal to threaten someone on social media in Australia?
Yes. Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code it is an offence to use a carriage service, which includes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and every other social platform, to threaten to kill or to cause serious harm, and separately to use a carriage service in a way a reasonable person would find menacing, harassing or offensive. Every state and territory also has offences covering threats, stalking and intimidation. Whether a particular comment meets the threshold is for police and the courts; your job is to capture it and report it.
Do I report to state police or the AFP?
For most people, state or territory police, through 000 in an emergency or the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 otherwise. Threats against federal MPs, senators and their staff go to the AFP. If you are unsure, report to your state police: they will refer it on if a Commonwealth agency should handle it.
Can the eSafety Commissioner make a platform remove a threatening comment?
Yes. Under the Online Safety Act 2021, once an adult cyber abuse complaint is accepted, eSafety can issue a removal notice to the platform, which has 24 hours to comply. You need to have reported the comment to the platform first and waited 48 hours. eSafety can also require a platform to disclose information that helps identify an anonymous account.
What if the commenter deletes the comment before I screenshot it?
Report it anyway. The platform keeps records that police can request, and eSafety can ask the platform for them too. If the page is connected to Clarify, the comment text, the account, the post and the timestamp were recorded when the comment was classified, and that record is Clarify's own, so a later deletion on the platform does not erase it.
Is a threat against a staff member treated the same as a threat against the MP or councillor?
Yes. The offences and the eSafety scheme apply to the person targeted, whoever they are. A threat against a staffer, a volunteer or a family member should be captured and reported the same way, and an employer has a work health and safety duty to act on it.
Does Clarify report threats to the police or eSafety for me?
No. Clarify records the threat, preserves the evidence, alerts your team and generates the report. A person on your team decides whether to report it and to whom. Clarify never contacts a platform, the police or the eSafety Commissioner on its own.
Can Clarify miss a threat?
Yes. Clarify's AI classifies every comment with a confidence score and its reasoning, and like any classifier it can miss a threat or flag something that is not one, especially sarcasm, slang, in-jokes and comments that only make sense with context the AI does not have. It is a first reader, not the last word. A person should still read the comments on a bad day, and if something looks like a threat to you and Clarify did not flag it, capture it and report it anyway.
Is this legal advice?
No. Clarify is a software company, not a law firm, and this guide is general information about how reporting works in Australia. Laws and schemes change, and the right step depends on your circumstances. For anything that matters, check with your state or territory police, the eSafety Commissioner, or a lawyer.
Read how it works, step by step
- The Threat LogThe Threat Log is the permanent record of every comment classified as a threat, organised by the account that made it.
- CasesA case is a folder for an investigation: one account or group, the evidence against them, and the status of any report you've made.
- The Account TrackerThe Account Tracker is your watch list: accounts that have been flagged for threats, repeated abuse, suspected fakery, or coordinated behaviour.
- Alerts and the post re-open policyIn Settings > Alerts you choose how you personally hear about events. Each alert type has two toggles: In-app (the bell at the top of the screen) and Email.
Pricing
Everything this guide describes inside Clarify, the threat log, cases and reports, is in every plan. Prices in Australian dollars; every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, and paying yearly gives two months free.
More from Clarify
- Threat monitoring and reportingSocial media threat monitoring for Australian MPs, councils and public figures. Clarify watches your own pages for threats, preserves the evidence, and builds police and eSafety-ready reports.
- Replies in your voiceClarify drafts replies to the comments on your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads pages in your own voice, checks the facts on the web, and posts nothing until a person approves it.
- Comment moderationClarify sorts every comment on your pages as a threat, abuse, spam, misinformation, a question or fine, hides the clear-cut cases if you switch that on, and keeps every decision reversible.
- Media monitoringClarify watches Google News, GDELT and the outlets you add for mentions of you about once an hour, confirms each story is really about you, summarises it and scores its tone.
- Publishing with approvalsClarify schedules posts to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads from one calendar with your diary beside it, drafts them in your voice, and routes every post through an approval queue.
- MPs and candidatesSocial media threat monitoring and comment moderation for MPs, candidates and electorate offices. Clarify logs threats as evidence for police, hides abuse, and drafts replies staff approve.
- Councils and community groupsSocial media threat monitoring and comment moderation for local councils. Clarify keeps abuse and threats out of the feed with the evidence a police report needs, and drafts replies staff approve.
- Small businessClarify reads and sorts the comments on a small business's pages, drafts replies in the owner's voice, hides scams and spam, and schedules posts to every platform from one calendar.
- Sporting clubs, parties and peak bodiesClarify HQ lets a club, party or peak body see when one account is targeting several of its members across their own pages, and work referred cases together. Free for organisations.
- AthletesSocial media threat monitoring for athletes. Clarify reads the comments before they do, hides abuse the moment it lands, logs threats with evidence, and puts a real supporter in every morning brief.
- Creators and influencersClarify sorts a creator's Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Facebook comments, hides spam and abuse, mutes fake accounts, logs threats, and drafts replies to real questions in the creator's voice.
- Bot network detectionBot network detection by hand: the five signals that separate a bot network, troll farm or brigade from an organic backlash, what to record, and how to show the pattern to a platform or the police.
- Protecting staff from online abuseProtecting the staff who read your social media comments: the psychosocial risk of moderating abuse, what work health and safety law expects, and the practical steps that cut their exposure.
- Threat monitoring for a campaignHow a candidate's team sets up social media threat monitoring in a week, what to log from day one, and how to carry the evidence into the electorate office after polling day.
- Everything Clarify does, on one pageSocial media threat monitoring for Australian public pages: Clarify flags threats and coordinated accounts, keeps the evidence for police or eSafety, and drafts replies you approve.