Australia has abandoned its legal effort to force Elon Musk's platform, X, to remove graphic footage of a church stabbing. The incident occurred in Sydney and led to riots. Despite a temporary order, X did not comply, citing invalidity, but later blocked the video in Australia with users still able to access it via VPN.
Australia has dropped its legal effort to force the removal of graphic footage of a church stabbing from
Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter).
The attack, deemed a terror incident, involved a bishop named Mar Mari Emmanuel and occurred in April at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Sydney, leading to riots.
Despite the Federal Court's temporary order to hide the videos, X did not comply, asserting the order was invalid.
Eventually, X blocked access to the video in Australia, but users could circumvent this by using VPNs.
The eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, sought global removal of the video to prevent inciting further violence.
Musk criticized her, leading to a clash with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The case was dropped due to multiple considerations, with Inman-Grant emphasizing the goal to ensure online safety.
X's Global Government Affairs team hailed this as a victory for freedom of speech, though it reaffirmed that praising or inciting violence is not allowed on the platform.