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Katie Kiss - Social Justice Commissioner Close the Gap on Racism

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.

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Read the full article

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/13/online-racism-mental-health-first-nations-australians-social-media-ntwnfb?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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