Opinion: Elon Musk wrong over stabbing video that inspired murder

Australia’s internet watchdog warned that a stabbing video of a Sydney bishop was dangerous. But Elon Musk’s X refused to pull it down. Months later it inspired this kid to murder.

A controversial video of the stabbing of a Sydney bishop was the last thing British teenager Axel Rudakubana looked for online before he embarked on a murder spree, killing three little girls and injuring many more at a Taylor Swift-themed workshop.

That video of a livestreamed sermon run by Mar Mari Emmanuel, who lost an eye in the frenzied knife attack in April 2024, is horrific. I’ve seen it.

Our eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, whose role it is to protect Australians from harmful content online, tried to get that video pulled down from social media platforms when it happened.

They all agreed, apart from X, formerly known as Twitter, which refused, saying the video “did not violate X’s rules on violent speech”.

Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years. Picture: AFP / Merseyside Police.

That probably says all you need to know about the grim content available on X.

One of Ms Inman Grant’s concerns at the time was that the attack on the bishop, allegedly perpetrated by a 16-year-old, could spark copycats.

It did. Three months later in Southport, UK.

That’s the internet for you; it is a global beast.

And that was the argument of Elon Musk, owner of X, who accused Ms Inman Grant of trying to police the world.
She wasn’t – she was just trying to get it removed from Australian feeds. It’s up to other countries to look after their own people.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel speaks at the Wakeley church on April 28, 2024, after losing an eye in an attack at the pulpit. Picture: Supplied

“The Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans!”, he wrote about her on X.
Ultimately, Ms Inman Grant’s efforts to get X to obey her requests failed when a court ruling went against her. She decided not to pursue the case.

But the murder of these little girls, who were making friendship bracelets when Rudakubana burst in and stabbed multiple kids – some in the back as they tried to flee – proves Ms Inman Grant’s efforts were justified.
That video – and millions of others like it – are dangerous and are inspiring others to commit violence.

It came out this week that Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of his murderous rampage, looked at a range of online content from war zones like Gaza and Ukraine, as well as victims of torture, beheadings and rape – and that Sydney stabbing video, which he watched before he left his house that day.

As an 11-year-old, a cherubic looking Rudakubana starred as Doctor Who in a BBC advertisement for a program to help underprivileged children.

We don’t know what happened to turn that little boy into the “sadistic” murderer of three girls aged six to nine, other than he spent a lot of time online looking at graphic violent content.

I looked up that video on X. It is still there. What a sick world we live in.

Originally published as Opinion: Elon Musk wrong over stabbing video that inspired murder