Facebook has come under fire from Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, after a memorial page for a murdered schoolboy was vandalised.

Senator Conroy criticised Facebook for not being able to adequately monitor the activities of people who deface users’ pages.

“I think there is a situation where people take Facebook with an enormous amount of trust and theyve got to clearly explain what went wrong with their security systems, how this was able to happen (and) importantly, how they’re going to ensure that this doesnt happen again,” asserted Senator Conroy.

The social networker defended its reliance on users to report offensive material before taking action.

“Facebook is highly self-regulating and users can, and do, report content that they find questionable or offensive. In the tragic case of Elliott Fletchers memorial groups, vandals had posted vulgar and pornographic material. We responded to reports by users as well as to direct contact from law enforcement and have removed the groups and disabled the accounts of the people responsible,” said communications and public policy director Debbie Frost.

Senator Conroy’s comments come as he attempts to introduce legislation that will filter the internet.