https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-15/how-misinformation-spread-...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-15/how-misinformation-spread-after-bondi-junction-stabbing/103708210

The ABC has pieced together how anti-semitic and pro-Kremlin accounts turned Mr Cohen into an internet villain.

The trail was uncovered using social media analysis, datasets provided by disinformation experts, archives provided by anti-fascist research group the White Rose Society, as well as interviews with Mr Cohen, his family and the accounts spreading false claims about him.

"It's extremely disappointing to see thousands of people mindlessly propagating misinformation without even the slightest thought put to fact-checking or real-life consequences," Mr Cohen told the ABC.

"And then using that information to push an agenda and spread hatred."

Here's how the falsehoods — later amplified by 7 News, which has since blamed "human error" for its role in spreading misinformation — unfolded.