Facebook and Twitter say Australia wants to give regulator too much power in bid to combat online bullying

The social media giants raise concerns about the eSafety commissioner's investigative powers and lack of oversight

Facebook and Twitter have raised concern controversial new legislation aimed at curbing bullying and governing online activity will give Australia's eSafety commissioner too much power over speech online with little oversight.

The online safety bill, introduced into parliament last week, is aimed at giving a broad range of powers to the eSafety commissioner to target bullying and harassment online, extending existing powers protecting children from online bullying to adults, as well as powers over abhorrent violent and terrorist material and adult content online and on social media in Australia.