Australia’s race discrimination commissioner says social media companies have allowed racist and antisemitic hate to flow “unchecked” – and warned of an imminent outbreak of racially motivated violence after the Bondi beach terror attack. “There are some that say you can turn the tap of online hate off,” Giridharan Sivaraman said on Thursday afternoon. But his most direct criticism for their contribution to these “febrile and difficult times” was reserved for social media companies. “We’ve seen a move backwards in terms of the making redundant of factcheckers and the like across some platforms,” the commissioner said. He welcomed measures to address antisemitism – telling union officials he would also “love to see broader action”.