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. “It’s just that it’s not in the interest of the social media platforms to do so because, unfortunately, racism and hate can be profitable.”

Speaking at a Queensland Council of Unions meeting on International Migrants Day, and afterwards in a sit-down interview with Guardian Australia, Sivaraman said that more could have been done to address antisemitism had the government adopted the Australian human rights commission’s national anti-racism framework – for which the commissioner had been advocating for more than a year.

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. “That’s a deliberate choice that allows mis- and disinformation to flow.”

Sivaraman said that while no one action could prevent atrocities like that at Bondi, the adoption of the national anti-racism framework could have helped – “and still absolutely can”.

“It should be a critical part of the solution,” he said.

Launched in November 2024 as a “roadmap to eliminating racism in Australia”, the framework is for “a whole of society approach” to reforms and includes 63 recommendations, including the introduction of “effective legal protections against online hate” and a taskforce to tackle racism.

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“That taskforce could have identified, and still can identify, the recommendations to move with as a matter of priority, particularly to tackle antisemitism,” he said.

“So there were things that could have been done under that framework that simply haven’t happened, because the framework’s not been adopted or funded.”

Even “after the horror” of Bondi, where gunmen killed 15 people, he said, the taskforce “could have met as a matter of urgency”, and with community representation, to identify matters of priority.

“So I do think that the failure to support that framework has meant that efforts to combat antisemitism weren’t able to be progressed.”

A visibly tired and emotional Sivaraman said his heart went out to the Jewish community.

He welcomed measures to address antisemitism – telling union officials he would also “love to see broader action”.

“Because there are many other communities that are affected by racism – and, in the coming months, it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Sivaraman said.

“I’m very worried about what will happen in the weeks before and after 26 January.”

The commissioner said messages had been circulated online promoting a “Cronulla 2.0” – referencing the infamous race-fuelled riots of 20 years ago.

“Effectively, it’s a message sent out asking people to congregate in Cronulla to bash people of Middle Eastern origin.”

The Brisbane-based lawyer and anti-discrimination advocate said he felt “shell-shocked and sickened” watching the images of “senseless violence” roll in on Sunday night.

“It’s just horrible. It’s really depressing. It’s hard to pick yourself up, you know?” he said.

“But you get up the next day and go: OK, what do we do? How can we make a difference?”