Jordan Shanks: Youtuber FriendlyJordies is forced to take down video after death threats

A controversial Australian YouTuber has removed a video due to persistent death threats, he revealed on his website on Thursday evening.

Jordan Shanks, who goes by the name FriendlyJordies online, made global headlines when his home in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Bondi was bombed in November 2022.

Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua, 37, an alleged associate of the Alameddine crime clan, was charged in December 2023 over the fire.

Shanks did not refer to any person or group in his Thursday statement, but said: “You win. We will delete the video. Congratulations. You run this city.”

He added: “Police have made it very clear that many of the main suspects in the firebombings appear in that video.”

The investigation into the fire continues and further arrests are likely.

“This alleged attack was coordinated and targeted, and further arrests are expected in the coming days and weeks,” Chief Inspector Gordon Arbinja of the state Crimes Command’s Financial Crimes Command said in a statement in December.

“Police can confirm the person arrested has links to an organized crime group in Sydney’s south-west.”

Det Arbinja added that it was a “strong possibility” that the alleged attack was in retaliation for videos posted on the FriendlyJordies page.

‘Without the cooperation of the victim, the investigation could not have progressed, the victim has been very cooperative towards the police.

“It was a long and protracted investigation and that’s why it took more than 12 months to arrest our first person,” he said.

Shanks said that although he and his colleagues had done their “absolute best” to keep the video online, they could not afford the possible deaths of innocent people.

“These figures are resurfacing and threaten serious consequences if the video is not removed.

“Given the colorful history of these people, we do not view these as idle threats,” his statement said.

The Youtuber said his organization had contacted authorities about the threats, but to no avail.

“It seems that these men are free to point the scythe at whomever they please, blackmail them with the most heinous, violent acts imaginable, and that there is no authority in the land powerful enough, or perhaps reckless enough to check them.”

Jordan Shanks, who uses the name FriendlyJordies online, gained national attention when his home in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Bondi was bombed in November 2022 (pictured)

Shanks told the Sydney Morning Herald that the video was not removed because of defamation threats, “but because of death threats against several people.”

“We stand behind every word in that video,” he said.

“We can take comfort in the fact that we have done our part – more than our share. More than we will ever be able to reveal publicly.

“We ran into no man’s land without any support and no support ever came,” his online statement said.