Elon Musk and X to fight Australian eSafety order to remove content relating to Sydney stabbing
Company says it complied with directive over posts about stabbing of Sydney bishop but will challenge ‘unlawful and dangerous approach’ in court
Elon Musk and his social media company X have accused Australia’s eSafety commissioner of censorship and say they will challenge in court an order to remove content on the site relating to Monday’s Sydney church stabbing.
On Tuesday the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said that X and Meta were issued with a notice to remove material within 24 hours that depicted “gratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail”, with the companies facing potential fines if they failed to comply.
The notices related to the alleged stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley. The service was being livestreamed and a recording of it circulated online, along with other videos of the aftermath.
But early Saturday morning Australian time, X issued a statement accusing the watchdog of pursuing global censorship and vowing the company will “robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court”.
