Federal MP Josh Burns slams social media giants for antisemitism response at royal commission

Federal Victorian MP Josh Burns, who has been the target of antisemitic attacks, has called for tougher laws against vilification because social media platforms are failing to adequately respond to online hate.

Burns, who is Jewish, travelled to Sydney to appear at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Tuesday, which has this week heard from victims of hate speech on social media. The inquiry was shown an image of the aftermath of an attack on Mr Burns’s electorate office in Melbourne’s St Kilda in June 2024, where a hammer was used to smash windows. Horns were painted over an image of Mr Burns, residents in the above apartments were evacuated, and nearby businesses were without internet for a week due to damage at the office.

Mr Burns said offensive comments were posted online within hours of the attack, with the commission shown posts that blamed the MP for it. He also told the inquiry he could “dust off” the abuse directed at himself, but it was “devastating” to see loved ones like his partner and Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell, who is not Jewish, subjected to the same harassment.

Burns said under the current Online Safety Act, the eSafety commissioner was empowered to remove digital content that was menacing, harassing or offensive, and intended to cause serious harm to individuals in Australia. But he said the act provides no mechanism through which the commissioner can remove online content that targets minority groups generally and does not single out any individual ; often the only way to reduce hate speech on his social media accounts was to prevent people from commenting at all, which did not support a healthy democracy.

In a submission to the royal commission, Mr Burns’s Labor colleague and former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said it was clear laws against hate speech or vilification based on a range of attributes, including race, were not adequate, believing that further extension of hate speech laws is needed to create a broader offence that does not require elements of violence or threatening force.