<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/13/online-racism-mental-health-first-nations-australians-social-media-ntwnfb>
"For the past week and half, the social media feeds of many Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people have been flooded with clips from the same video,
posted by a self-declared Australian comedian.
This video shows a white woman wearing a fur coat with white dot painting on
her face. She refers to herself as “Aunty Lisa”, and claims that she is
Aboriginal, after ticking yes on an Aboriginal identity form. At the end of the
video, she says, “I am Aboriginal, end of story”, before sniffing a red jerry
can, in an apparent reference to petrol sniffing, a serious issue affecting
some Indigenous communities.
For First Nations people, this is not, sadly, an unusual experience. Online
racism is growing, bubbling up through social media algorithms that reward and
promote divisive content. A federal parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and
violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples received
more than 420 submissions, many of which describe an increasingly toxic online
environment.
The Australian Human Rights Commission, in its submission, recommended the
government introduce a digital duty of care to require social media companies
to “identify, assess and mitigate foreseeable risks arising from recommender
systems and monetisation practices that incentivise the amplification and
normalisation of racist narratives”.
Guardian Australia read hundreds of submissions to the inquiry."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
