Police have confirmed they are trawling social media to ascertain whether incitement-to-violence charges will be forthcoming against "several people" involved with anti-vax and anti-mandate protests.
"But there is a little way to go with that [investigation] yet," AFP Deputy Commissioner and ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said on ABC radio.
Police have a dedicated intelligence unit assigned to "Operation Hawker" monitoring open social media channels, but the ACT's top cop warned there are areas of the web where police are not privy to conversations between various groups.
Far-right nationalists, anti-vaxxers, libertarians and conspiracy theorists are using social media as a tool to stimulate the anger and uncertainty felt among disenfranchised and uncertain members of the community, some of whom travelled from as far away as Yeppoon in central Queensland, as well as Western Australia, to join the Canberra protests.
Although many protesters have left, several hundred still remain in various camps in and around the territory, and there are indications another protest will occur on Saturday.
"I think the internet is a challenge for us; I think it's a great tool for law enforcement to ascertain what people are doing and obviously we use that for intelligence purposes," Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said.
"But there are other parts of the internet where we really struggle to get involved; the dark net where people can use chat rooms and the like where they are really hiding from law enforcement.
"Unfortunately it [the dark web] is a real avenue for conspiracy theories.
"Some of the theories we've seen circulating around, not just with this group but overseas over the last couple of years and the last couple of months particularly, [are] quite concerning."
For many years, ACT Policing has had a specialised team which co-ordinates with protest groups to ascertain where and when they intend to protest, so traffic and public safety management can be put in place for both the protection of protest groups and to minimise disruption to the public.
But that hasn't been able to happen in this case.
Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said the disjointed nature of the protest groups which have arrived in the capital has made it difficult for police to find a point of liaison with the protesters.
"There are so many different groups with so many different agendas, it's been really difficult for us to negotiate with the leaders because they have been so disparate," he said.
"A key focus however, has been the anti-mandate vaccinations [group], and we have been negotiating with that group to do their protesting in a peaceful way.
"Overall, we are very happy with the way that has gone."
Deputy Commissioner Gaughan empathised with the frustration some members of the community hold with the way in which the pandemic has affected their personal lives.
"We have all been faced with some type of lockdown; we have all been frustrated; people are angry, people are confused and we're seeing all those emotions played out in protests across the country, not just here in Canberra," he said.
"It's a challenge for law enforcement and what we're going to have to focus on is what really motivates these people and how we can actually work with them to get their message across in a peaceful way."
He indicated that some of the online commentators who are posting on social media in a manner which may incite violence may not be doing so from within Australia.
"Some are outside Australia, some are inside Australia, who have been basically trying to get the group, which is actually quite peaceful, to do something that's violent, and that concerns us," Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said.
"Obviously we support protests that are peaceful in this country, and they have a right to do so [protest].
"But once people start to incite violence ... we will be taking action if we can confirm that."
Police have made seven arrests so far since the protest group arrived in Canberra.
