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Australia was shocked and horrified by a brutal shooting attack on a large crowd at Bondi Beach in Sydney on November 14. One of the shooters who carried out the terrorist attack, which killed 15 people, was killed by police fire, while the other shooter remains in hospital in critical condition after being shot by police. Thus, numerous false reports were shared on social media regarding the incident.
Social Media Posts :
A social media post was circulated, with a photo of a Facebook account claiming to be the Facebook account of the shooter, who is currently receiving treatment. It was captioned that the shooter is an Israeli national and that his real name was ‘David Cohen’.
The photo was further shared on various social media platforms as follows.
These notes were also exchanged in Sinhala and Tamil as follows.
We took steps to verify whether the Facebook account shown in this photo actually belongs to the shooter, whether he is an Israeli national, and whether his real name is David Cohen.
Fact Check :
A closer look at the Facebook account of the alleged shooter reveals differences compared to a regular Facebook account.
It reveals several inconsistent features that are different from a regular Facebook account.
The “Add new friends” feature is usually found in blue in the top right corner of a Facebook account. However, in this image, it appears inside the “About” section.
Also, the words “Eeopis” and “Engage” depicted in the viral photo are not features you see in a regular Facebook account.
Additionally, we checked all Facebook accounts under the name David Cohen, and although there are many people with that name, we couldn’t find an account with a picture of the person who was the shooter in the Bondi Beach attack.
An image generated by Artificial Intelligence
We tested the above image through an Artificial Intelligence content checking tool. It was confirmed that there is a high probability that this image was generated through Artificial Intelligence.
Who are the shooters?
Australian security forces have identified the accused as Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed. The 50-year-old shooter, who died in a shootout with police officers, is an Indian national living in Australia who immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s and had periodically visited India. More information about him can be found here.
Although Sajid is not an Australian citizen, his children are Australian citizens born in Australia. Accordingly, the other shooter involved in the shooting has been identified as Sajid’s 24-year-old son, Naveed. However, there are no reports that Naveed had the alias “David Cohen.”
Some more investigations are here and here.
International media outlets have also reported that the social media reports stating that the shooter is an “Israeli” national and that his name is David Cohen are fake news. More information regarding this is here.
More information on the Bondi Beach mass shooting is here, here, and here.
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Conclusion :
Our investigation shows that the photo of a Facebook account shared through various social media platforms, purporting to be of the shooter in the recent shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, is not real, but a fake account generated by Artificial Intelligence. There is also no official confirmation that the shooter was identified as David Cohen. He is not an Israeli national and has been identified as an Australian-born citizen of Indian descent.
Title:A misleading post regarding a Facebook account of the shooter who carried out the massacre in Sydney, Australia?
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Misleading
