The Federal Government has threatened social media giants with legal action if they fail to take down harmful or dangerous content. 

The Christchurch shootings were live streamed on social media sites and the government does not believe social media sites responded fast enough.

A meeting was held between the prime minister and media executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter to discuss the crackdown.

Minister for Communications and the Arts Mitch Fifield tells Ross Greenwood if the social media giants don’t act they won’t “hesitate to legislate”.

He says Facebook failed to provide them with an account of why it took so long to take the video down.

“It’s fair to say that we were underwhelmed by the response of the platforms, particularly Facebook, at our meeting yesterday.

He says Facebook failed to provide them with an account of why it took so long to take down the video.

“What was more concerning is that at about the 29-minute point after the live streaming commenced, a member of the public drew this to the attention of the organisation and it really wasn’t until much later that something was done.”

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