Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responds to Elon Musk’s dismissal after court orders X to hide Sydney stabbing videos globally
Videos of the violent Sydney church stabbing attack must be temporarily hidden from all users of Elon Musk’s social media platform X, Australia’s Federal Court has ruled. It has led to a war of words between Musk and Anthony Albanese.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has labelled billionaire Elon Musk “arrogant”, saying he is someone “who thinks he’s above Australian law” after he dismissed a federal court ruling against his social media platform, X.
The court ruled that videos of the violent Sydney church stabbing attack must be temporarily hidden from all users of Elon Musk’s social media platform.
X has been ordered to hide the video behind notices for all global users on an interim basis until the matter is considered again later this week.
Mr Musk dismissed the Federal Court’s late night hearing, posting on X: “It is absurd for any one country to attempt to censor the entire world.”
He also posted a transcript of Anthony Albanese attacking his platform for failing to live up to its “social responsibility”.
“By and large, people responded appropriately to the calls by the eSafety Commissioner,” the Prime Minister said.
“X chose not to ... I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and are trying to argue their case.”
I’d like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one https://t.co/EM0lF6n7SC
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
Mr Musk retorted: “I’d like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one.”
Mr Albanese returned serve on Tuesday morning while calling for Musk to be compliant with the ruling.
Don’t take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM! pic.twitter.com/ZJBKrstStQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
“Well, this guy is showing his arrogance. He’s a billionaire over there in the United States who thinks he’s above Australian law and he’s fighting for the right to show violent videos on his platform, something that can cause damage to young people we know and a great deal of distress,” The Prime Minister said on Sunrise.
“It’s something that will add to social division. The eSafety commissioner has made a ruling, and the other social media platforms all complied without complaint.
“This is a measure that has bipartisan support in this country. Australians are united.
“This isn’t about censorship, it’s about common sense and common decency and Elon Musk should show some.”
Senator Jacqui Lambie also weighed in on the debate.
“Quite frankly the bloke should be jailed, and the sooner we can bring laws in and do something about this game playing with our social media the better off we’re going to be,” she told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
“Leaving that out for our kids to see, for family and friends and just letting that run on there … that bloke has no conscience, he’s an absolute friggin’ disgrace.”
The interim order only applies to videos identified by the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and does not cover new uploads of the same footage.
Federal Court judge Geoffrey Kennett granted the temporary injunction to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner on Monday night after it requested X Corp be forced to take down video of the alleged terror incident still widely available on the platform.
On Monday, the Prime Minister singled out X for not following the court’s direction.
“By and large, people responded appropriately to the calls by the eSafety Commissioner,” the Prime Minister said.
“X chose not to ... I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and are trying to argue their case.”
Mr Musk retorted: “I’d like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one.”
The eSafety Commissioner had previously requested X to remove the footage depicting the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a service at the Assyrian Christ of the Good Shepherd church in Sydney, or risk fines of up to $782,000 for each day the content remained online. But the social media giant vowed to challenge the notice with Mr Musk, the X chief executive, accusing the Australian regulator of seeking to censor free speech.
“The Australian censorship commissar is demanding global content bans,” Mr Musk said on X on Saturday.
In the hearing on Monday, barrister Christopher Tran, representing the Commissioner, told Justice Kennett free speech concerns did not apply in this case as the take down notice only related to depictions of actual violence and not commentary around the incident.
“This is a graphic and violent video,” Mr Tran said.
He said there would be “irreparable harm” if it remained on X as the material could be “co-opted” by people seeking to stoke public division.
Mr Tran also argued geo-blocking the content from Australian IP addresses would not be sufficient as it was still accessible to anyone using a VPN to alter their apparent location.
Barrister for X Corp, Marcus Hoyne, said the social media company had been provided with “no notice” and suggested it was unclear what the eSafety Commissioner required.
Mr Hoyne also said it was not possible for him to get instructions from his client at the time of the hearing as the time was only 2am where they were located.
Justice Kennett said he did not want people rushing to see the video between now and the next hearing, likely Wednesday, so he granted the eSafety Commissioner’s injunction on an interim basis.
As a result X is required to hide the specific examples of the video highlighted by the Commissioner behind a warning notice to all users around the world.
In a statement released after the interim injunction a spokeswoman for the eSafety Commissioner said the removal notice did not relate to “commentary, public debate or other posts” about the Sydney church incident.
“It only concerns the video of the violent stabbing attack,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the Commissioner had worked cooperatively with google, Microsoft, Snap and TikTok to remove the same material.
She said the Commissioner was later satisfied with Meta’s compliance, but in the case of X Corp they were not satisfied.
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