Bondi Royal Commission: US social platform tells anti-Semitism inquiry it will ‘publish whatever it likes’

Multiple social media platforms including X have refused to engage with the hate inquiry established after the Bondi attacks.

The Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion resumed on Monday for its third block of hearings after receiving more than 20,000 submissions.

The commission recommenced in Sydney following hearings in May and heard information regarding the policing and intelligence gathering processes before the Bondi Beach terrorist attack in December 2025.

Much of the previous hearing block was held in secret, with concerns for national security.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt told the commission in May there was “no doubt” Australia had seen an “escalation” in anti-Semitism, with the law enforcement organisation receiving about 166 reports of alleged crimes since December 2024.

On Monday, the inquiry switched focus to the extent of anti-Semitism across social media and within traditional Australian media.

“It has become increasingly apparent that the online environment and social media platforms in particular, are perhaps the most significant vector for the spread of anti-Semitism and hate in the community,” counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC said.

He advised many social media organisations, including Google, Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok had been forthcoming with the commission; however, several platforms refused to engage with the inquiry.

‘I do not answer to Australian bureaucrats’

Mr Lancaster said the commission had received no response from X Corp or Telegram, and only a limited and generic response from popular platforms Reddit and Twitch.

The counsellor told the commission American social networking and blogging app Gab Social, who described themselves as “the home of free speech and the parallel economy”, were outwardly “hostile” when approached.

Mr Lancaster said a person who claimed to be a lawyer for the platform wrote to the commission claiming, “Gab is an American company, run by American citizen and will publish whatever it likes, whenever it likes”.

A post by Gab CEO Andrew Torba on X read: “I do not answer to Australian bureaucrats, and Gab does not answer to state sponsored censors”.

“A recent observation of the Director-General of security, Mike Burgess … reflects a broad consensus of expert evidence received by the royal commission that the online environment can be a potent driver of radicalisation,” Mr Lancaster noted in his address to the commission.

“Mr Burgess said this: ‘Whether online or in the real world, when intolerance is tolerated, when violent language and violent acts are left unchecked, they become normalised, reinforcing the impression they are acceptable and compounding the likelihood of further violence’.”

Deepfake smear campaign

The commission heard evidence from prominent online figure in the Australian Jewish community Arsen Ostrovsky – who attended the Bondi Chanukah event in December last year with his young daughters.

Mr Ostrovsky was targeted by a smear campaign after real images of his bloodied head surfaced hours following the devastating terrorist attack which saw 15 people killed.

The images were then used to create anti-Semitic deepfake material of Mr Ostrovsky, falsely claiming the injured man was an actor.

Some of the deepfake images showed Mr Ostrovsky with a smiling expression, having his face painted red on what appeared to be a film set – the images were faked in an apparent attempt to discredit the original images of Mr Ostrovsky’s injury.

Mr Ostrovsky said he found out about the content as he headed into surgery and had since been subjected to unrelenting online abuse.

“After December, it became impossible for me to keep up – it essentially became a relentless tsunami of Jew hatred online,” he told the commission.

“I try my best to block it out, I do, but it is impossible.

“When you’re trying to heal, when your family, when your children, you see this, the abuse is relentless, it is vicious.”

Mr Ostrovsky told the commission he believed online commenters felt entitled to abuse him due to his Zionist beliefs.

“Essentially everything that is no longer fit to say about Jews is being set against the Zionists,” he said.

“It is the same hatred, the same viciousness, but expressed in a more modern language, with a veneer of respectability, political discourse, of which, neither is acceptable.

“It is claiming that somehow, because I am a Zionist, that I am less deserving of the same rights and the same protections as everyone else.”

Mr Ostrovsky told the commission he had attempted to get social media platforms to remove the deepfake content; however only received a response from Meta through an acquaintance who headed policy for Israel and Jewish diaspora at the company.

“Immediately after the deepfake images and videos came out, I recall reporting them to both Twitter (X) and I believe YouTube at the time as well – I have not heard back from either,” he said.

“(The Meta employee) informed me that it would be looked at immediately, and it was indeed removed.”

The commission will also investigate the traditional media landscape, including the public broadcasters coverage of the Middle East conflict.

Witnesses from the ABC and SBS are expected to speak in the coming days.

The commission’s final report is due to be handed down in December, a year on from the Bondi attack.

More to come