Social media platform
The company says it complied with the law by “restricting” some posts for Australian users. He also argues that the posts should not have been banned in Australia at all, and that the Australian government should not be able to censor what users post in other countries.
Last week, the eSafety commissioner asked X to remove footage of the recent attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, due to its graphic content.
On Monday, the federal court ordered Elon Musk’s X to hide posts containing videos of the Sydney church stabbing from users around the world. Australian federal police expressed fears in court that the video could be used to encourage people to join a terrorist organization or carry out a terrorist act.
The regulator asked X, formerly Twitter, to remove 65 individual tweets containing videos of the attack.
On Monday, a lawyer representing the eSafety commissioner told the court that X had already geo-blocked the posts, meaning people in Australia could not see the tweets, but argued this was not enough.
Many of the tweets were still accessible outside Australia or from Australia via a VPN.
On Wednesday, the court extended the interim injunction and ordered that the posts be hidden from view until 5 p.m. on May 10, 2024, before another hearing.
On Thursday evening,
However, an
The post appeared directly below X’s official post and could be viewed and replayed by Australian users.
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X said in its statement on Thursday night that the original posts should not have been banned in Australia at all, as the company believes “the content of the posts does not encourage or provoke violence and fits within the category of Australian legislation that allows content that can reasonably be considered part of a public discussion or debate.”
The company also opposed the demand to remove content globally from the platform.
“[W]“We believe that no government should possess such authority,” the statement said. “X believes in respecting a country’s right to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, and also believes that governments should not be able to censor what citizens of other countries see online, and that regulators should stay within limits of the law. “We believe it is important to uphold these principles and we will continue to do so.”
On Wednesday, the eSafety commissioner issued a statement on the federal court order, saying: “While it may be difficult to completely eradicate harmful content from the Internet, particularly as users continue to repost it, eSafety requires platforms to do everything practical. and reasonable to minimize the harm it may cause to Australians and the Australian community.”
The response post to X’s statement containing the video in question was no longer visible to some users shortly after Guardian Australia’s inquiries to X and the eSafety commissioner about it.
On Thursday, Australian federal opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared to side with X and company owner Elon Musk, saying Australia “cannot be the world’s internet police,” that federal law does not should influence content that can be viewed abroad, and that the eSafety commissioner’s demand that the images be removed worldwide was “silly”.
X has been contacted for comment.
