Regional Australia 'at the front line' of radical misinformation crisis

In his youth Mr Quinn was a leader of an anti-Asian hate group west of Sydney.

"My parents went to war against the Japanese, so there was a lot of hatred against Asians in the family," he said.

"I also had a lot of childhood trauma myself and I tried to get support but every time I tried the people that should have helped me, didn't.

"I was just filled with rage and anger, so we sort of became a bit of a vigilante group which morphed into like a complete anti-Asian group."

It wasn't until an Asian man rescued him from a vicious bashing that his perspective changed.

"I was bashed in a fight and then somebody from the Asian community saved me," he said.

"That was when I was hating Asians and I was like 'why would this person come and save me?'"

It was that event that sent Mr Quinn down a new path.

After he reconnected with an old friend, Mr Quinn put in the work to learn about different communities.

"I got to see all the cultures and was like 'actually they're not that bad, you know'," he said.

Mr Quinn, now 46, works de-radicalising young people across Australia.

Starting EXIT Australia in 2014, he said he had seen first-hand the impact social media had on radicalising young people.

He said despite social media companies' efforts, bad actors were still able to slip through the cracks.

"Social media organisations are trying to crack down on it as best they can," Mr Quinn said.

"But the problem is these groups can, within a week, change key words or they can change symbolism or make up a new story to get everybody enraged again.

"For social media to get a handle on that and an understanding when they're working on the whole world, it's very tricky."

He said increasingly in his work people were ringing up with concerns about social media radicalising young people.

He said extremists would often misrepresent events in order to turn people to their cause.

This was seen recently as towns across the UK erupted into violent riots due to misinformation about the identity of the Southport stabber.

A global economic crisis, a deepening political divide and unrestricted and unmoderated access to 'information', mean people are primed to act on what they see.

In August, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and federal government made the move to raise Australia's terrorism threat level from "possible" to "probable," in part due to misinformation from "across all ideological spectrums" being spread online.

Associate professor at Deakin University Josh Roose said regional and rural areas were at the forefront of the issue.

"Regional Australia is increasingly at the front line of a lot of these challenges," Dr Roose said.

"The impact of rapidly increasing inequality issues around cost of living, housing affordability, poverty are really hitting the regions.

"They've always faced an inequality of service provision compared to the cities.

"The cost of living has driven people who grow up in these towns, out of those towns."

He said while mis and disinformation was a worldwide issue, regional areas often lacked the infrastructure to combat it.

"Social media enables the instant publication of information and material and it's spread not only locally but around the world in real time," Dr Roose said.

"Things that are published online, particularly where they may appear to have some authoritative element to them, can spread rapidly and at an unprecedented scale.

"Everyone's got a phone, everyone's a publisher."

"But we're also seeing people who are living in regional cities and centres being exposed to the exact same information that people in the cities are being exposed to.

"But without the broader multicultural framework, without the broader support structures, without the broader educational institutions that offer advice and support, that really leaves them attempting to grapple with these ideas on their own."

Although often seen as an urban issue, there have been several high profile cases of extremist activity in regional areas.

Over the years far-right groups have congregated in regional Victorian towns, including Ballarat and the Grampians.

And in 2022 three people radicalised online shot and killed two police officers and a neighbour during a terrorist attack in Wieambilla, Queensland.

Chief executive officer of the Online Hate Prevention Institute Andre Oboler said while social media sites were better at taking down extremist content, agitators were still getting thorough.

"People use coded language on mainstream large platforms to try and get people," he said.

"It's getting people to go and find that stuff themselves by giving them the things to search for.

"It's leading them to the edge of that rabbit hole so they can then dig their own way down."

He said because the misinformation could come from anywhere, regional areas could become epicentres overnight.

In 2014, Bendigo was the target of an international online hate campaign when the council proposed to build a mosque.

Bad actors from across Australia and the globe descended on the central Victorian city leading to violent clashes during anti-muslim rallies.

The campaign saw hateful and vitriolic attacks against local community leaders.

Dr Oboler said only a fraction of the online opposition was from locals while the rest came from elsewhere.

"You had what looked like local opposition to the mosque that wasn't local in any meaningful sense at all," he said.

"We went to some of the neo-nazi protests or the counter protests in Bendigo, that again was largely people travelling into the area.

"It wasn't at its heart a local issue."

While young people are becoming increasingly exposed to extremist content online many are working to present counter narratives.

Top Blokes is a charity organisation that offers mentorship for young men from the Illawarra up to the Sunshine Coast.

Chief executive officer Melissa Abu-Gazaleh said teaching media literacy was key to combating the rise of extremism.

"I think we have to be really aware that we have to work with technology," she said.

"We have to work with young men using technology because otherwise we're just not being realistic.

"We now have to give them informed information to help them build the skills to have critical thinking and understand how to assess the information that's in front of them."

Ms Abu-Gazaleh said young people often were just looking for a community when joining these groups.

She said providing healthy alternatives was also key.

Ms Abu-Gazaleh said despite concerns plenty of progress had been made.

"When we talk about extremism in young males it can look like a very bleak future ahead of us," Ms Abu-Gazaleh said.

"But we're really fortunate that we see so many incredible examples of young people standing up for what's right.

"And so even though it feels like the world is on fire sometimes, we see such a bright future for these young men.

"They want to be active contributors and they want to have a role to play to provide a better future."

Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Orange Door 1800 271 180; MensLine 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.