By Allanah Sciberras, Kate Atkinson, Blair Wise and George Driver
Publication Date: 2025-12-20 21:00:00
Just hours after the Bondi Beach atrocity, misinformation flooded social media, with claims of a fake hero and a paid actor and countless clips spreading false narratives.
The shooting of father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram, which left 15 people dead at a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, has sparked further concern over AI images and fake news.
The Australian Associated Press FactCheck service found at least a dozen examples of falsehoods and conspiracy theories being spread online.
These include fake reports that a 43-year-old IT professional named Edward Crabtree was the man – later correctly identified as Ahmed Al Ahmed – who was caught on video snatching a gun from the hand of one of the Bondi terrorists.
A fake news report has incorrectly identified Ahmed Al Ahmed as “Bondi local Edward Crabtree”. (HANDOUT/The Daily Aus)
The claim was made in an article published on a fake news website called The Daily under the name of a supposed reporter named Rebecca Chen.
Neither Crabtree nor the journalist are…
