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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani and Ariel Bogle

WhatsApp and the Wakeley riot: how a messaging platform became a fake news broadcaster

A policewoman makes notes at the investigation of a stabbing at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney.
Police investigate at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church after a knife attack took place during a service in Wakeley in Sydney. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/Reuters

It took less than 30 minutes for a video of an alleged stabbing attack at a church in western Sydney to snake its way through WhatsApp groups across the city.

As chaos was still unfolding inside the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley last Monday night, clips from the alleged attack – during a livestreamed memorial service where a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel – were being shared.

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