The Bondi Beach mass shooting tragedy has seen waves of bizarre conspiracy theories ripple through social media, which have concerningly been reinforced with images and text made by artificial intelligence.
Fifteen were killed and 25 remain in hospital after Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, allegedly opened fire at a ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ Jewish event on Sunday night.
Amidst the tragedy, Australians found heroes to rally behind – including a man who tackled Sajid and took hold of his rifle.
However, the true identity of the man – Ahmed El-Ahmed – quickly became confused.
Elon Musk‘s Al chatbot Grok misidentified him as one ‘Edward Crabtree’, an imaginary 47-year-old IT professional. The bot many turn to for information insisted that he was the unarmed hero who took down a terrorist.
The fake story even quoted Crabtree ‘from his hospital bed’.
The fictitious news article came from a website called thedailyaus.world, which was registered on Sunday in Iceland. That website is not connected to The Daily Aus.
An AI-generated fake image has also been circulated online showing one of the real injured victims of the Bondi attack posing as a movie actor with a makeup artist adding fake blood.
A fake AI image (pictured) of a victim of the Bondi massacre has been circulating online alongside claims the event was fake
The AI image depicts human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky (pictured), who was injured in the attack
Elon Musk’s Al chatbot Grok misidentified ‘Edward Crabtree’ as the man who wrestled a gun from one of the terrorists
Casey Ellis, a Sydney cybersecurity expert who has advised the White House and Australian intelligence agencies, was not surprised by the misinformation.
‘This event is unbelievably tragic, deeply emotionally charged and polarising in about a million different directions,’ Mr Ellis told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The misinformation even prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to claim it was a Jewish bystander who wrestled the gun away, not the Syrian-born Mr El-Ahmed – a 43-year-old grocer and father-of-two.
When users showed the chatbot video of El-Ahmed tackling the shooter, Grok claimed the footage was ‘an old viral video’ of a man climbing a palm tree.
Grok also incorrectly identified a photo of an injured El-Ahmed, captured shortly after he disarmed Sajid, was that of an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas.
Real and fake photos have also become hard to distinguish amid the campaign of misinformation. The Al image of the man having fake blood painted on his face at what appears to be a film set surfaced on Reddit, WhatsApp group chats and X.
The image was originally of human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, who spoke with media at the scene with his face still covered in blood.
In another case of false information, a Pakistani man with the same name as one of the alleged attackers, Naveed Akram, was wrongly identified as the gunman.
A Pakistani man (pictured) with the same name as one of the alleged attackers, Naveed Akram, was accused of being the alleged terrorist
Misinformation online claimed Akram (pictured) was a former Israeli Defence Force soldier
He told The Guardian his life had become a ‘nightmare’ after a photo falsely labelling him as one of the terrorists circulated online.
In an emotional social media post, Mr Akram said he ‘cannot even go outside safely’.
‘That is not me and I have nothing to do with that incident or with that person,’ he said.
‘If you see any such posts which have my pictures, please report that account and do not spread that because it can turn very dangerous.’
Before alleged gunman Naveed Akram’s identity was confirmed, his driver’s licence was posted on social media accompanied by several unsubstantiated claims.
Viral posts falsely claimed Naveed was a former soldier in the Israeli Defence Force who’d been stationed in Gaza.
Other posts claimed he was a Mossad agent and that the Bondi shooting was a ‘false-flag’ attack – meaning it was carried out by a party posing as someone else.
One such post came from American influencer Kenny Ko.
Conspiracy theorists have pointed to a Google trend chart (pictured) showing the name ‘Akram Naveed’ was searched before the attacks began. However, the theories don’t account for the time difference between Australia and the US
In a short video, Ko claimed anyone who believed the Bondi massacre was real has been ‘severely brainwashed’.
As ‘evidence’, the American pointed to Google Trends data which showed the name ‘Naveed Akram’ had been a popular search on December 13 – one day before the shooting.
However, the theory quickly falls apart when you consider the differing time zones between Australia and the United States.
Other claims included that Naveed had studied at Islamabad University and was sent by Iran to carry out the Bondi Beach attack.
False reports claimed the Bondi attacks had spread to Dover Heights and Double Bay, which forced NSW Police to issue a statement.
‘There have been NO reports of any incidents at Dover Heights – please do NOT share unconfirmed rumours,’ police said.
A fake Google Maps listing showing the Bonnyrigg home address of one alleged shooter was also created, which the tech giant has since removed.