X refuses to remove stabbing video watched by Southport killer

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has refused to remove a video that Axel Rudakubana watched minutes before murdering three young children, despite numerous requests from authorities in Australia and the UK.

Australian internet regulator eSafety said on Friday it noted with “great sadness” that the video — which shows the violent stabbing of a bishop in Sydney in April — was watched by the killer on X even though the regulator had requested the material be taken down from the platform for months before the attack in Southport last summer. 

Immediately following the Australian attack, companies including Google, Microsoft, Snap and TikTok “acted quickly to co-operate with eSafety and ensure the Wakeley stabbing video could not be accessed from their platforms. Some of these companies took additional, proactive steps to reduce further spread of the material,” the regulator said. “X Corp chose not to remove the video from its platform.” 

Video footage of the stabbing of a bishop at a church in west Sydney circulated online in April but X only geoblocked the footage in Australia, meaning that people elsewhere in the world, and local users of VPNs, could continue to view the violent attack. 

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