A Google executive has told an Australian inquiry that a YouTube video falsely claiming a wounded survivor of an antisemitic massacre in Sydney was a crisis actor bloodied with make-up had met the platform’s standards and would remain online.
Google Australia manager Rachel Lord was testifying on Tuesday at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia, including an attack by two gunmen on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December that left 15 people dead.
Lord was questioned about a complaint made by survivor Arsen Ostrovsky about a video posted on YouTube. Ostrovsky was attacked online after an image showing blood streaming from a wound in his head was posted on social media two hours after he was shot.
Lord said the decision to allow the video to remain on YouTube had been reviewed at “quite senior levels”.
“We have spent a lot of time thinking about where we draw the line and we continue to re-evaluate where we are doing that,” Lord said.
Richard Lancaster, the lawyer leading the inquiry’s evidence, referred to a transcript of the video to avoid showing the images in public.