Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has made a formal complaint to Tasmania's anti-discrimination commissioner over a Facebook post he has called "nasty and homophobic".

Facebook post by Pro Tamar Valley Pulp Mill, censored. ( Supplied )

The post was from the Facebook page "Pro Tamar Valley Pulp Mill", which professes to be a group of supporters for the failed forestry project.

Late last year, the Facebook page posted a black and white photo of Mr Brown at the 1986 Farmhouse Creek protest, as he is being forcibly removed by several forestry workers.

The Facebook post was captioned: "Poor old Bob is using old photos now on his foundation page to gain sympathy".

"Bob is getting desperate now that his legacy is only found in sewerage treatment plants.

"We have no idea why Bob would want to be surrounded by sweaty, hairy men," the Facebook page wrote.

Lettering was added by the Facebook page to the photo, implying Mr Brown's sexuality was a motivating factor in his protest.

The post was later deleted from the Facebook page.

Crude meme 'crossed a line'

Mr Brown sent a copy to Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner and made a formal complaint.

He told the ABC the Facebook post went too far.

"It has crossed the line, it's at the nasty and homophobic end of the line," he said.

It's that sort of comment that is not going to do great damage to me because I've seen it all, but will damage other people in the community.

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"It's quite overt homophobia, and as such it's trying to have a political advancement on the matter — in this case forestry and logging, advanced through homophobic allegations," he said.

Mr Brown said he had referred material to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner before but had chosen not to proceed with legal action.

"I've been there before on a similar matter, the Commissioner found in that case the people were infringing the Tasmanian law, we came to an agreement, they publicly apologised and we moved on. But here it is again," he said.

The Greens activist vowed to pursue legal action this time.

"I'm not in a mood to simply say, 'oh well, let's let bygones be bygones' — again not for myself, for young Tasmanians who see this sort of stuff and it really injures them," he said.

Post was humorous, says page administrator

The man who runs the pro Tamar Valley Pulp Mill site Bret Lucas told the ABC he stood by the post and did not believe it was homophobic.

"No I don't think it was homophobic, I thought it was humorous," he said.

"Is Bob Brown homosexual? I don't know if he is in denial but we thought it was amusing and satirical, and obviously Bob thinks differently.

"I think Bob Brown has a lot to answer for the situation Tasmania is in economically.

"If it has caused him great angst and he didn't see the humour in it then, of course, I apologise."

Mr Lucas ran as an independent for the seat of Bass in the 2014 state election.

He said the post was removed after a complaint was made via Facebook but he would have been happy for it to stay up.

'Better regulation' of web content called for

Tasmanian gay rights advocate Rodney Croome said he was shocked when he saw the post.

"I was appalled that this kind of hatred stills exists in some parts of the Tasmanian community," he said.

"Tasmania is a much more tolerant place now than it used to be but clearly there's still some people who hold deep prejudices and hatred towards gay people," he said.

Mr Croome said the Bob Brown incident makes the case for a review of internet regulation more broadly.

"This material highlights the need for a public debate about better regulation of the internet to ensure that hate speech isn't disseminated widely," he said.

Earlier this week Twitter announced plans to beef up security and crack down on abuse.