Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has called on social media companies to require proof of identity from users.

Mr Dutton told Ray Hadley social media users – particularly Twitter users – are hiding behind anonymous accounts, which they use to intimidate.

He has already taken action against Greens Senator Larissa Waters over derogatory tweets, and plans to take the issue further.

“They’re out there putting all these … statements and tweets that frankly, are defamatory.

“I’m going to start to pick out some of them to sue, because we need to have … a respectful public debate.

“A lot of lazy journalists pick up these tweets and believe that they’re representative of the larger community view, when they’re not.”

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