Australia’s internet watchdog receives nearly 100 complaints about harmful content relating to Bondi attack

Australia’s internet watchdog has revealed it received nearly 100 complaints about harmful online content relating to the Bondi Beach massacre — with one so disturbing it was deemed class one material. The eSafety Commission had established a dedicated investigation team after videos of the mass shooting circulated in the moments following the horrific December 14 attack. The confronting content that emerged included videos and photos of bloodied victims, the gunmen firing rounds into the Chanukah celebration, and graphic descriptions by witnesses. The on-call team monitored online content and responded to 98 official complaints, as also engaged with tech giants about they content shared on their platforms. Only one of the received complaints met Australia’s illegal rating, which can include pro-terror material that advocates for carrying out a terrorist attack – including manifestos – and materials that promote, incite or depict extreme crime or violence. “This material is no longer available online and no further action from eSafety is required at this time. The remainder of the complaints did not meet the threshold for eSafety to take action,” am eSafety spokesman said. “eSafety also engaged with platforms to ensure they were taking proactive steps to protect users, especially children, from inadvertent or accidental exposure to this content, including removal of gratuitous violence and the use of interstitials or content warnings.” Online anti-Semitism research group CyberWell also monitored the reactions to the terror attack across social media in the days and weeks that followed. The non-profit found troubling trends during its review, which was based on a sample of 164 pieces of content that generated more than 8.1 million views and more than 255,000 interactions. CyberWell founder Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said in some online spaces violence had been “justified, normalised, or redirected toward victims through conspiracy narratives”, including claims that Jews orchestrated attacks against themselves. “We are deeply concerned by the nature and volume of this content,” she said. “This type of online anti-Semitism in the wake of the horrific Bondi Beach terror attack, like other targeted attacks, has one dehumanising message: That Jews are not worthy of empathy, protection, or sympathy.” Misinformation included a deepfake image created of gunshot victim Arsen Ostrovsky after he shared a photo of himself, bloodied and laying on the ground at the scene. Mr Ostrovsky was subject to an AI-generated image falsely showing him on a film set, with a woman leaning over him putting on bloodied stunt make-up. The identity of the Bondi hero Ahmed Al Ahmed was also mistakenly circulated as a made up IT professional, named ‘Edward Crabtree’, with reports shared on well-known Russian disinformation site Pravda. Labor MP and Jewish Australian Josh Burns on Friday called for action on the “cesspool on social media”, insisting the recently announced Royal Commission should examine the role online spaces have played in amplifying hate and fracturing social cohesion. “I hope the (royal) commission has a look at online forms of anti-Semitism and hate because it is a cesspool on social media. It has been an amplifier of hate,” Mr Burns told ABC Breakfast. “The consequences for people spreading hate online have been extremely minimal and I’m not sure the tech platforms and the social media companies have been accountable.” The eSafety Commisioner Julie Inman Grant has been tasked to play a role in the government’s response to the Bondi beach attack, with the Prime Minister announcing in late December that she would work alongside the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal. Anthony Albanese’s response plan stated the two would work with Communications Minister Anika Wells “to provide online safety advice on best practices to address online antisemitism, to inform the Government’s response to the Online Safety Act Review in the first quarter of 2026”. A recommendations from Ms Segal’s report to increase transparency around social media algorithms which amplify hate remains to be implemented. The recommendation could face a challenging path to fruition as the eSafety Commissioner told several inquiries late last year that there was a difficulty getting transparency of algorithms from tech giants. Ms Inman Grant accused the tech companies of going to lengths to hide them, as they saw the algorithms as their platform’s “secret sauce” for engaging users.