Elon Musk, the billionaire behind the tech empire, accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge mandated that his social media platform X block users globally from viewing a video showing a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.
Criticised Elon Musk as an “arrogant billionaire”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded, criticising Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who thinks he’s above the law and disconnected from public sentiment.
X Corp., the tech entity revamped by Musk after acquiring Twitter in 2023, declared its intent to contest Australian orders demanding the removal of posts related to a knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during an Assyrian Orthodox church service streamed online on April 15. While the material was blocked in Australia, it remained accessible elsewhere.
Australia’s eSafety Commission, claiming to be the world’s pioneer government agency for online safety, successfully petitioned the Federal Court in Sydney for a temporary global ban on sharing the bishop’s stabbing video.
Following an after-hours session on Monday, Justice Geoffrey Kennett ordered the temporary suppression of the footage from all X users until Wednesday, when a hearing for a permanent ban would take place.
Shortly thereafter, Elon Musk shared a cartoon on his personal X account. It depicted a forked road, with one path leading to “free speech” and “truth,” and the other to “censorship” and “propaganda.” Musk referenced Prime Minister Albanese’s remarks to reporters on Monday, where Albanese mentioned other social media platforms complying with the regulator’s orders to remove violent content.
In response, Musk thanked the PM for highlighting his platform as the only truthful one. However, Albanese criticized Musk in various TV interviews on Tuesday. He emphasized the necessity to confront Musk’s arrogance and disregard for common decency. Albanese emphasized the disconnect of going to court to defend the posting of violent content, asserting the need for social responsibility in social media.
Albanese expressed to Sky News that Elon Musk prioritized ego and sensationalism over common sense by allowing violent content on his platform. He reiterated to Seven Network that the issue wasn’t about censorship but about demonstrating basic common sense and decency, something he urged Musk to exhibit.
During Monday’s court proceedings, the regulator’s lawyer, Christopher Tran, argued that simply geoblocking Australia didn’t meet the legal definition of removing the footage. Tran emphasised the severe impact of the graphic video, stating it could cause irreparable harm if allowed to circulate.
X’s lawyer, Marcus Hoyne, faced difficulties reaching instructions from the company’s headquarters in San Francisco due to the early hour in the United States on Monday. X didn’t provide an immediate response on Tuesday regarding their compliance with the court order.
Elon Musk referred to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant as the “Australian censorship commissar.” Albanese highlighted on Monday how social media posts, misinformation, and the spread of violent images worsened the fallout from recent violent incidents, including the church attack and a separate knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall.
X’s Global Government Affairs team revealed that Inman Grant instructed them to remove certain posts related to the church attack, which they argued didn’t violate X’s policies on violent speech. However, they stated that the Australian regulator demanded global removal of these posts under threat of substantial fines.
According to X’s Global Government Affairs account, they believe that the eSafety Commission’s order exceeded the bounds of Australian law. They stated that while they complied with the directive temporarily, pending a legal challenge, they assert that the eSafety Commissioner doesn’t possess the authority to dictate global content access for X users. They pledged to vigorously contest what they deemed as an unlawful and perilous approach in court.
The live broadcast of the church attack and subsequent social media activity drew a crowd of around 2,000 people, leading to a riot against law enforcement. Police were compelled to barricade the suspected young attacker inside the church. Regrettably, the riot resulted in injuries to 51 police officers and damage to 104 police vehicles, as confirmed by officials.
By Sunday, authorities had apprehended three alleged rioters, with police releasing images the following Monday of 12 individuals they identified as the main instigators of the violence, sourced from riot footage. Additionally, a 16-year-old boy, accused of carrying out the stabbings, faces charges of terrorism offenses. He has garnered both condemnation and praise online for his actions.
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