Sydney mall attack: Confronting pro-Kremlin troll on false claims Jewish student was killer - BBC News

Simeon Boikov sparked a social media frenzy implicating an innocent 20-year-old in the shopping mall attack.

12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsSydney attackImage source, Aussie CossackImage caption, Simeon Boikov, known as Aussie Cossack online, fled to the Russian consulate in Sydney last yearBy Marianna SpringDisinformation and social media correspondent"I never falsely suggested anything," Simeon Boikov tells me.

Under the alter ego "Aussie Cossack", he posted untrue speculation that a 20-year-old Jewish university student was the attacker who had stabbed and killed five women and one man at a Westfield shopping centre in Sydney.

He said on X: "Unconfirmed reports identify the Bondi attacker as Benjamin Cohen. Cohen? Really? And to think so many commentators tried to initially blame Muslims."

The actual attacker, shot dead by police, was later identified as Joel Cauchi, 40. The authorities say his actions were most probably related to his mental health.

Within hours of Mr Boikov's post on X, the false claims he amplified had reached hundreds of thousands of people on X and Telegram, and had even been repeated by a national news outlet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68822846

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