In the hours and days following the Bondi Beach shootings, social media moved faster than facts. Images, videos and claims spread at lightning speed across platforms like X, Facebook and TikTok, many of them framed as “evidence” that the public wasn’t being told the full story. As is increasingly the case after traumatic events, misinformation flourished in the vacuum before official details were fully confirmed.
What follows is a breakdown of some of the most widely shared online myths surrounding the Bondi Beach shootings. And the verified facts that dispel them.
Myth 1: Parking fines were issued immediately after the attack
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: Images circulated online purporting to show parking fines being issued to cars in the area shortly after the shootings, sparking outrage and claims of bureaucratic insensitivity.
The facts: Authorities confirmed the fines shown in the images were issued before the attack occurred. The timestamps and issuing details pre-dated the incident, and there is no evidence that parking enforcement was carried out in the aftermath. The images were real, but their context was deliberately misrepresented.
This is a classic example of how genuine photos can still be used to tell a false story.
Myth 2: A police officer “froze” or surrendered during the shooting
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: A photo of a female police officer with her hands raised went viral, with captions suggesting she had frozen, surrendered, or failed to act while shots were fired.
The facts: Police clarified that the officer’s raised hands were a deliberate gesture used to direct members of the public to keep moving and clear the area. At that moment, she was actively trying to prevent further harm by managing crowd movement.
“There was no freezing or surrender,” police said. “Her hands were up to signal civilians to continue moving away from danger.”
A single still image, stripped of context, was enough to fuel an entirely false narrative.
Myth 3: The shooting was staged and victims were actors
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: A viral deepfake video appeared to show a real victim, Arsen Ostrovsky, on what looked like a film set having fake blood applied, suggesting the entire attack was staged.
The facts: The video was confirmed to be AI-generated. Ostrovsky is a real person who was genuinely injured in the attack. The manipulated footage was created to deliberately sow doubt and conspiracy, using increasingly sophisticated generative AI tools.
Experts warn this type of content is becoming harder to identify, particularly when viewers are already emotionally primed by shocking news.
Myth 4: The hero bystander was “Edward Crabtree”
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: Shortly after the attack, a legitimate-looking news article began circulating that identified the man who tackled one of the gunmen as Edward Crabtree, a 43-year-old IT professional, complete with quotes from a hospital bed.
The facts: The article was fake. It appeared on a website called thedailyaus.world, which has no connection to Australian outlet The Daily Aus. The site was registered by a user claiming to be based in Iceland just hours after the attack.
The real hero was Ahmed Al Ahmed, a father from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, who was shot twice while disarming one of the gunmen. High-profile figures including hedge fund manager Bill Ackman publicly corrected the misinformation, noting how far the false account had travelled.
Even world leaders weren’t immune: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially misidentified the bystander before the error was corrected.
Myth 5: Israelis or Indians searched the shooter’s name before the attack
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: Facebook posts alleged that users in Israel — and later India — had searched the name “Naveed Akram” on Google hours or days before the shooting, implying foreknowledge or coordination.
The facts: AAP FactCheck reviewed Google Trends data and found no evidence of searches for the name in Israel or India prior to the attack. The claims were categorically false and relied on misread or fabricated screenshots.
There is no credible data supporting the suggestion that anyone overseas had advance knowledge of the incident.
Myth 6: The shooter was a former Israeli Defence Force soldier
The Bondi Beach shooting fake news: Viral posts falsely claimed the shooter was a former IDF soldier who had “lost his mind” after being stationed in Gaza, often accompanied by AI-generated images of him in military uniform.
The facts: There is no evidence the shooter ever served in the Israeli Defence Force or any military. Authorities confirmed these claims were entirely fabricated. The images used were digitally generated, designed to provoke outrage and link the tragedy to global political tensions.
This form of misinformation relies on emotional association rather than evidence — and spreads quickly during times of heightened geopolitical sensitivity.
Why misinformation spreads after tragedy
Moments of shock and grief create fertile ground for false narratives. People search for meaning, blame and certainty, often sharing unverified content out of fear or anger rather than malice. Algorithms then amplify the most emotionally charged material, not the most accurate.
The Bondi Beach shootings underscore how quickly misinformation can distort public understanding, unfairly target individuals, and deepen social divisions.
The takeaway
Not every viral image is fake — but context matters. Not every “breaking” update is true — and speed is not accuracy. In the aftermath of violence, pausing to verify before sharing is not just responsible, it’s necessary.
In an age of deepfakes, fake news sites and algorithm-driven outrage, separating myth from fact has never been more important — or more difficult.