Social sewage exposed at the Royal Commission.

So far this week, the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard testimony that should shame every social media platform and every regulator charged with keeping Australians safe online.

Witness after witness has described the same bleak pattern: report the abuse, wait, and watch nothing happen.

The numbers tell the story. Federal MP Josh Burns submitted 44 reports of antisemitic material to Meta. Three were actioned. Musician Ben Adler followed up with Victoria Police at least 15 times with no substantive response. Author Lee Kofman, whose Jewish creative arts WhatsApp group was doxxed in January 2024 – prompting the government to pass anti-doxxing laws – told the commission that despite reports to police, the AFP and the eSafety Commissioner, “nobody was brought to justice”.

The human cost is heartbreaking. An 11-year-old boy was subjected to a Discord poll asking whether he should kill himself. A 12-year-old girl was tormented through a TikTok account that mocked her wheelchair-bound sister.

Bondi shooting survivor Arsen Ostrovsky saw deepfakes with commentary branding him a crisis actor as he was wheeled into surgery to remove bullet fragments from his skull. His nine-year-old daughter said she felt safer in Israel under Iranian ballistic missile fire.

The AJN‘s own social media channels have also been bombarded with vile hate.

In a perhaps even more sinister turn of events, members of the community have been targeted with online harassment for participating in the Royal Commission itself, as detailed by Dor Foundation CEO Tahli Blicblau’s evidence, including explicit calls for violence.

Blicblau said all too often social media platforms fail to sufficiently act in what she called a “grossly inadequate response”.

Simply put, these platforms have treated Jewish Australians’ safety as optional. They have failed to tackle the problem.

And the eSafety Commissioner, as Burns powerfully testified, can act when an individual is named but not when an entire people is vilified – an absurdity that leaves the most dangerous, group-directed hatred beyond reach.

The issues have been plainly aired in the hearing room. But testimony alone will not protect a child walking to school wearing his kippah.

We need real change – and severe consequences for platforms who fail to curb hate.