Australia has abandoned its legal fight to remove graphic footage of the Sydney church stabbing from Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Declared a terrorist incident by police, the attack on bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in April was broadcast live online and led to riots outside the church.
Australia’s Electronic Safety Commissioner, an independent regulator, has threatened X and other social media companies with hefty fines if they do not remove video of the stabbing over concerns it could incite more violence.
The case is seen as a test of Australia’s ability to enforce its online safety regulations against social media giants.
The Federal Court temporarily ordered X to hide the videos – but they refused to comply on the grounds that the order was invalid.
X, formerly Twitter, ended up blocking access to videos in Australia, but users can easily get around this by using a VPN.
Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant – who used to work for Twitter – demanded the video be removed globally, prompting Mr Musk to call her “censorship commissioner”.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded by calling Musk an “arrogant billionaire”.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ms Inman-Grant said due to “many considerations” the dismissal was “likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians , especially children”.
“Our sole goal and focus in issuing the removal notice is to prevent this extremely violent video from spreading widely, potentially inciting further violence and causing further harm to the community,” she said. Australian Dollar”.
She added that she supports the decisions the Electronic Safety Committee has made.
X had previously argued that the commission’s order was “illegal and dangerous”.
“The global takedown goes against the principles of a free and open Internet and threatens free speech everywhere,” the organization said in a statement.
“This is a tragic event and we will not allow people to praise or call for further violence,” the statement added.
Ms Inman-Grant previously told the ABC that Mr Musk’s attention had led to a surge of millions of his followers – including death threats and the exposure of her children’s personal information Online.
