Arsen Ostrovsky was in hospital being prepped for surgery from injuries he sustained in the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre when his phone lit up with notifications from his social media accounts.
The Jewish Australian, who had taken shelter in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, was being described as a “trauma tourist” and a “false flag actor” after a photo of his blood-soaked head was shared online, with his permission, following the December 14 attack.
However, it was AI deep fake images that were garnering the most hatred, including one that had been doctored to make Ostrovsky appear as though a make-up artist had been responsible for manufacturing his injuries.
Ostrovsky, a human rights lawyer who has a significant online presence with almost 400,000 followers on X, was the first witness to appear before the Royal Commission into Antisemitism on Monday, as it moves to probing the role social media has in spreading hate against Jews.
Ostrovsky posted on his X account on Monday morning that he would be appearing before the commission, prompting comments including “I don’t trust you. I believe you are an agent of Israel” and “Don’t forget your make-up arsehole”.
In his opening address for this hearing block, counsel assisting Richard Lancaster said some social media companies had provided documents voluntarily to the commission, but other platforms had ignored requests.
“The commission has received no response from X Corp or from Telegram, other platforms including Reddit and Twitch have responded to the commission in a limited fashion,” Lancaster said. “Another platform, Gab, has been openly hostile.”
Gab, a messaging system which says it is a “free speech” alternative to mainstream sites, told the commission in a letter purporting to be from the company’s lawyer that it “does not answer to Australian bureaucrats”.
Lancaster said social media platforms’ response online to antisemitism is “too often opaque, slow and reactive” but noted that Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok have agreed to appear before the commission.
Ostrovsky, who relocated to Bondi from Israel the month before the December massacre, told the commission of the “surreal” days he spent in hospital when he was the target of a deluge of online hatred.
Online conspiracy theories suggested he was a “crisis actor” or an agent of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad.
“I was literally being prepped to go into surgery, and that is when I first found out [about deep fakes],” he told the royal commission.
“These images started spreading like wildfire: both the deepfake AI images and other images which had my bandage, gauze and scars photoshopped or removed. There were images of me holding what looked like an Academy Award trophy, and many of these images, videos and material are still online today.”
Ostrovksy told the commission that despite complaints to X, YouTube, and Meta, only Meta had taken action by removing AI-manipulated images from Instagram and Facebook. X and YouTube only confirmed receipt of the report.
As of a few days ago, a video titled “False Flag. Why the Bondi Beach Narrative Doesn’t Add Up” remained on YouTube, he said.
Jewish businessman Steven Lowy will provide evidence later on Monday about the “ongoing and substantial security response and constant engagement with police” that his family’s security team has engaged in – including reviewing 15,000 hostile online posts in one year and identifying 200 people posting that content.
MORE TO COME
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Alexandra Smith is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
