'It disturbs me': Royal commission exposes extent of online hate

Everyone from billionaires to politicians and pro-Palestinian Jewish activists have told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion of the hate they receive almost every time they pick up the phone or check their emails.

While not a luxury available to most, a dedicated security team works to intercept antisemitic abuse directed at the powerful Lowy family.

Billionaire philanthropist Steven Lowy told the inquiry in the 12 months to February, that team traced more than 15,000 items of hostile online content which could be traced to 200 individuals.

"It disturbs me, the volume and prevalence of it, and the serious nature of it,"

he said.

Jewish Australians who describe themselves as progressive were not immune either, with Jewish Council Australia head Sarah Schwartz saying she received online hate from pro-Israel and far right actors because of her advocacy for Palestinian human rights and her criticism of the Israeli government's military actions in Gaza.

Uncooperative online platforms

The inquiry also got a glimpse into the difficulties faced by those tasked with trying to shield Australians from online harm when giant platforms who operate offshore simply refuse to engage.

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC said even the powers of the royal commission could not compel a representative of X Corp to appear or provide a statement to the inquiry.

He said fringe extremist group Gab was "openly hostile" in its communication with the inquiry.

Mr Lancaster said the inquiry would consider whether Australia's eSafety Commissioner or some other regulator "should be given greater powers to regulate or compel the cooperation of social media platforms that are based offshore".

"The current position, where information relevant to the experiences of Australian end users of the online services provided by the platforms remains beyond the compulsory information gathering powers even of this royal commission, is very unsatisfactory," he said.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant does have some tricks up her sleeve to wrangle uncooperative content creators.

She told the inquiry on Friday of the success the online safety watchdog had in prompting app stores to deplatform a chat service operating from Portugal which was connecting paedophiles to children, including those in Australia.

But she said platforms were continuing to push back on requests to remove, restrict access and prevent the amplification of harmful content.

"These are mainstream platforms that are fighting for the right and ability to distribute and monetise this content,"

she said.

Ms Inman Grant said her office fought hard to prevent harmful videos, images and other content from the Bondi Beach terror attack being amplified on X in the wake of the December 14 shooting.

"[X Corp] said, 'It is not any worse than you would see in a gore movie' and I said, 'I can't think of anything more horrific for the family members and the Australian Jewish community'," she said.

While stopping short of describing the regulator as a toothless tiger, Ms Inman Grant recognised and apologised for the shortcomings of its remit which meant just a fraction of online harm complaints met the high threshold for intervention.

"That's one of the things I regret the most," she said.

"We're here to help people and I just want to acknowledge I know that … so many in the Jewish community have been suffering and I'm really sorry about the shortcomings of the scheme when we haven't been able to help."

An adjustment of that threshold to better support victims of online hate was all but ruled out in the federal government's response to Delia Rickard's review of the Online Safety Act (2021).

"While lowering the threshold of the Adult Cyber Abuse Scheme would appear to provide greater support to Australians who experience online harm, it is likely that expanding this Scheme would be operationally burdensome and counterproductive," the government response stated.

Vexed issue of digital duty of care

Sarah Vandenbroek heads up the Department of Infrastructure's digital platforms, safety and classifications division, and was pushed to explain this response by Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell on Friday.

"Given the recognition that lowering the threshold would appear to provide greater support to Australians who are experiencing online harm, was consideration given to the desirability of expanding substantially the resources of the office of the commissioner of eSafety?," Ms Bell put to the public servant.

Ms Vandenbroek said it was not within her department's power to make that call.

Another key recommendation from the Rickard review was the development of a digital duty of care which would put the onus on social media companies to proactively prevent the spread of harmful content on platforms.

Work is continuing to legislate that recommendation, but Ms Bell questioned if it was realistic to expect offshore tech giants to come to the table.

"In the absence of any requirement that social media platforms have a presence in Australia, and in the absence of any scheme for registration, has consideration been given to the effectiveness of the proposed digital duty of care to protect Australians from online hate?," Ms Bell put to Ms Vandenbroek.

After a pause, the public servant conceded the difficulty of the task.

"I think it would be a case of designing the digital duty of care to be as effective as it can be," she said.

"That would be a challenge, yes."

The hearings have been building up to the appearance of representatives from the world's biggest social media and technology companies, with Meta, Google, LinkedIn among those expected to front the inquiry next week.

Public broadcasters the ABC and SBS are also expected to give evidence.

The royal commission will then move to Melbourne, where it will examine the prevalence of antisemitism in the university sector.