Prime Minister Scott Morrison is demanding a graphic video circulating on social media platform TikTok be taken down.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Parents and children have been warned to be wary of footage showing a man in the United States taking his own life.
The video was originally posted to Facebook but is now being shared on TikTok.
Predators are reportedly using cute animal clips to lure children into watching the suicide video.
The prime minister said the laws and standards of behaviour for the real world must also apply online.
"No child should be exposed to horrifying content like this," Mr Morrison said on Wednesday.
"Platforms like TikTok need to put in more resources to detect and tear down this sort of harmful content. That is their responsibility."
Australia's eSafety commissioner is engaging closely with TikTok to get the video removed.
Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said once the horrific content was seen, it was impossible to unsee.
"This is yet another example of social media platforms struggling to incorporate safety protections at the core of their product offerings," she said.
She's calling for platforms to arm themselves with tools to remove harmful content faster.
National Suicide Prevention Adviser Christine Morgan said sharing such material was unsafe and could cause others real harm.
Ms Morgan is particularly concerned about children and young people, others who may be feeling vulnerable or isolated, and those who have a past experience with suicide.
A spokeswoman for TikTok said moderators were detecting and removing the video as people tried to upload it.
"We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips," she told AAP.
TikTok has also been accused of censoring political and social topics such as LGBTI issues and the crackdown in Uighurs in China.
A new report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute describes the video-sharing platform as a powerful political actor with global reach.
It found the Chinese-owned company censored topics and suppressed content to make it harder to find.
According to TikTok, some of the terms ASPI highlighted were restricted due to local laws.
The company fixed an issue where some Arabic phrases were being incorrectly moderated, as well as another incident where English phrases were incorrectly screened.
"We've committed to making our moderation policies, algorithm, and data security practices available to experts, which no other company in our space has been willing to do," the spokeswoman said.
The company says user data is stored in the US and Singapore, with strict controls on employee access.
"We have never shared user information with the Chinese government and wouldn't do so if asked."
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Australian Associated Press