Premier Chris Minns is concerned about the “wildfire” of online rumors and graphic material following the stabbings of Wakeley and Bondi.
The premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, announced on Thursday that social media pages that were “infamous” for disseminating false information had been removed following the stabbing attack at the Wakeley church.
However, he expressed concern about the “wildfire” of rumors and graphic content that was still making the rounds on digital platforms.
The services of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church were streamed live on YouTube on Monday evening. Short videos of the stabbing went viral on WhatsApp groups before the police showed up.
Dani Mansour, 19, appeared in court on Thursday and was accused of rioting, affraying, and causing property damage due to his alleged actions outside the church on Monday night, where an estimated 2,000 people had gathered.
Strict bail was given to Mansour, along with a social media access prohibition. The court heard on Thursday that Monsour’s Instagram posts served as the basis for the NSW police investigation. Authorities are still searching social media posts for more suspected rioters.
In recent times, WhatsApp—a platform owned by Meta—has been frequently cited as the source of a large portion of violent imagery and misinformation.
It has made an effort in recent years to slow down the spread of false information by labeling messages that have been forwarded several times and restricting the amount of content that can be sent in five chats at once. You can only send these messages to one chat at a time.
By 2020, according to Meta, the modification had contributed to a 70% decrease in the platform’s viral message spread.
Since the platform started encrypting communications end-to-end to safeguard user privacy, Meta has lost access to message content and is unable to keep track of what is being shared.
However, the business claims to have technology that can identify accounts exhibiting unusual behavior. It bans 8 million accounts every month, 75% of which are banned prior to user reports.
On Thursday, Minns informed reporters that the state government and the NSW police were worried about the number of unverified rumors and explicit material that remained available on social media platforms.
During a trying time, when social media companies are still spreading false information and rumors that spread like wildfire through apprehensive communities, it is exceedingly challenging to promote community cohesion and harmony, to calm down the community, and to send messages of unity,” he stated.
