New digital laws are sending a strong message, after a Nelson man was sentencing to almost a year in jail for sending a disturbing video via Facebook.

28-year-old Nelson man Aaron Stephen Tamihana was this week sentenced to 11 months behind bars as part of the newly introduced Harmful Digital Communications Act.

Police are using the case to send a message that behaviour over social media is being taken extremely seriously.

Canterbury University Professor Donald Matheson said it's been a long time coming.

"The internet is being pulled back to some of the norms that we expect in the rest of society, because while there's been a sense that there aren't any sanctions on what you do on the internet [...] in fact it does in fact have serious effects."

Professor Matheson said it shows that upsetting people online is just as serious as a face to face confrontation.

"If this law is getting a message through to people in social media they should think twice before acting in the way that they wouldn't act with someone face to face, it's performing it's role. But the big caution there is how far does freedom of speech go?"