Check Twice Before Sharing

The internet has a way of turning the tables on you — fast

For the last ten years, I’ve been an avid (some would say addicted) Instagram user. I often repost up to 50 reels a day — often in the small hours when my insomnia strikes. I’m often in bed with one eye on Netflix and one eye on my phone, lost in scroll world. I’ve lived on the internet for 30 years, since 1995.

If you multiply those numbers out, I may have posted close to 100,000 reels over the last decade without incident. Most of the time it’s harmless. But in the endless deluge of content, judgement can slip.

Sometimes I repost a video because I agree with it. Sometimes it’s because I disagree with it. Sometimes I share something just because it’s interesting, or because I don’t have time to watch it now and want to bookmark it for later. I’ve developed a kind of shorthand with my followers — most of whom know that not everything I post is an endorsement.

Most of the time my Instagram reels are a collection of all kinds of Internet flotsam and jetsam - mainly with a general theme on technology. But a couple of weeks ago I went down a bit of a gloomy rabbit hole, researching the recent spate of bombings in Sweden, the Grooming Gangs stories in the UK, and updates on the war in Gaza.

In that sea of not particularly positive content, I reposted a video without watching it properly. In the few seconds I did see, it looked like a black and white historical documentary. What I didn’t realise — and didn’t take the time to check — was that it was narrated by a known (but not to me) Holocaust denier.

As soon as a friend alerted me to its real content, I took it down immediately. Less than 200 of my followers saw the story. But not before another eagle-eyed follower had screenshotted the most damming second of the video, and then rightly called me out publicly a week later.

There are no excuses here. I own the mistake.

Of course I’m not a Holocaust denier. That would be a ridiculous position for anyone to have. I have Jewish friends, and years ago when I visited Israel, I spent time at Yad Vashem — the world Holocaust memorial museum. I saw all the evidence firsthand, and it left a deep impact on me.

Denying the Holocaust is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. That’s why I was mortified, and extremely embarrassed to be pulled up on what I had carelessly reshared. It's also why I have decided to publish this blog. Silence only serves to support the agenda of Holocaust deniers, and I have a moral responsibility to correct the mistake I made.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, sadly anti-semitic content on some platforms has increased by nearly 5,000%, making it much easier for anyone to make the same mistake it did, because there’s more of it out there - but that’s no excuse.

I have been in touch with the New Zealand Jewish Council, as well as the Holocaust Center of NZ, and offered my personal and sincere apologies to anyone and everyone in the NZ Jewish Community who may have seen the post in this face palm moment.

On the internet, perception is reality

Once something is posted, people fill in the blanks. If you share something harmful — even unintentionally — it can shape how others see you.

Worse still, silence can sometimes be taken as agreement. The internet isn’t built for nuance. There is more content online than any human can reasonably vet. But that doesn’t let us off the hook. If anything, it means we have to take even more care — especially with serious topics.

A reputation can take years to build, and seconds to damage. The things we share become a reflection of us, whether we mean them to be or not.

With so much content out there, we all need to be careful to double check what we are looking at.

Despite the fact that you can find almost all news on the Internet somewhere, the reason I still keep my NZ Herald premium subscription around, is that sometimes it’s good just to pay real journalists to sort out fact from fiction, rather than relying on the Meta, X or Google algorithms, which can become an information echo chamber, presenting only a too liberal, or too conservative viewpoint, without you realising.

This lesson has made me appreciate just how important it is to be intentional and careful with what I post. From now on I’ll be a little slower to click. Less trusting of appearances. And watch the whole video before you repost it!

Because trust, once broken — even by accident — is hard to win back.

If my stumble and public embarrassment over making this mistake, reminds even one person to pause and double-check what they are sharing online, then I’m sure something good will come from it.

Click here If you’d like to follow me on Instagram and see for yourself what type of content I normally post