A Google executive told an Australian inquiry that a video smearing a shooting survivor as a “crisis actor” meets YouTube’s standards. So it stays online.
Google has defended keeping up a conspiracy video about a mass shooting in Sydney, the Associated Press reports. The clip falsely paints a wounded survivor of the antisemitic massacre as a “crisis actor.” Google Australia manager Rachel Lord told a government inquiry the video met YouTube’s standards and would stay online. Senior staff had reviewed the call, she said.
The video and the inquiry
In December, two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney and killed 15 people. One survivor, Arsen Ostrovsky, took a minor head wound. Within hours, an image of his bleeding head spread on X, and the abuse began.
The YouTube video went further. Four men mocked his wound as “very crisis actor-ish,” pointed to “makeup,” and called him an “intelligence asset” with a “degree in theater.” It branded the massacre a “false flag.” Lord gave evidence to a government inquiry into antisemitism in Australia, which is examining how such hate spreads online.
