Facebook Slow to Act on Posts Celebrating Bondi Beach Attack, Anti-Hate Group Says
The Community Security Trust (CST) has alleged that Facebook hosted posts celebrating the Bondi Beach attack in Sydney on December 14 by Islamic State (IS) supporters. The attack left 15 people dead, including one attacker. Some posts praising the attack remained on Facebook as of December 16, with significant engagement. For example, one video showing the aftermath had over 100 likes, 27 comments, and 4 shares, while another post featuring a Bondi gunman with a message praising IS had more than 300 likes and 12 shares.
Facebook stated it was removing some posts after being contacted by the Guardian and that some had already been spotted and taken down. Meta declined to answer further questions but confirmed the content was removed for violating policies on dangerous organisations and individuals.
Dave Rich, CST's director of policy, described the volume of IS-supporting accounts promoting terrorist content on Facebook as deeply alarming and urged regulator Ofcom to investigate Meta’s handling. Ofcom emphasized that platforms must assess the legality of reported content under UK law and remove it swiftly if found illegal, noting the persistence of terrorist content and illegal hate speech on major social media sites. A Home Office spokesperson said content promoting terrorism or violence is unacceptable, and platforms must act to prevent illegal content, including terrorist material.
This incident occurs amid wider Western concerns about terrorist efforts targeting Jewish communities. For example, two men were convicted on December 22 of plotting to obtain machine guns to shoot Jewish people in northwest England. The Sydney attackers had links to IS and had traveled to the Philippines; the English plotters also had overseas IS contacts.
Authorities and CST officials emphasize the need for ongoing vigilance and call on regulators and platforms to strengthen enforcement to prevent the promotion of terrorist content online.
