Musk’s X threatens legal action over eSafety take-down order on violent content

Social media platform X is gearing up for a legal fight with the government over what it describes as a ‘global take-down order’ to remove content involving the alleged stabbing of a cleric.

Elon Musk, chief executive of social media platform X, has been criticised as a “narcissistic billionaire” by senior Labor government figure Murray Watt as the platform threatens legal action over action by the eSafety Commission to have it remove content involving the alleged stabbing of a Sydney cleric. Picture: Sergei Gapon/AFP

Social media platform X has set the scene for a legal showdown with the Australian government and its eSafety Commissioner after threatening to challenge an order to take down graphic content showing the stabbing of Sydney cleric Mar Mari Emmanuel.

While Elon Musk’s X says it had moved to comply with what it described as a “global take-down order” of the content ahead of a future legal challenge, it is understood Commissioner Julie Inman Grant doesn’t consider it to have fully done so.

Ms Inman Grant has flagged further possible regulatory action against X, which could include pursuing civil penalties, injunctions or in the most extreme circumstances an order to stop providing service into Australia.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The Albanese government is fully backing her in, with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland saying “the government and eSafety share the same clear expectation that social media companies remove this content immediately”.

The government affairs arm of X posted a statement at the weekend saying eSafety ordered it to “remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian bishop. These posts did not violate X’s rules on violent speech.”

“X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge,” it said.

It said eSafety had demanded it “globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000”.

“While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X’s users can see globally. We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court.

“Global take-down orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere.”

But eSafety said its notice requires effective removal of the material for Australians. This involves either taking it down completely or blocking or restricting access to it by Australians.

It also said it had not asked for posts commenting on the alleged attack to be removed, but images and video of the stabbing, which had been deemed an act of terror by the NSW Police Force’s ­commissioner.

The stabbing last Monday of Bishop Emmanuel from the ­Assyrian Orthodox Church was caught on a live stream of his sermon, and quickly spread online. Hundreds of people descended on the church and violence erupted, leaving two police officers injured, paramedics concerned for their safety and several police cars damaged.

Last week, eSafety issued Class 1 removal notices to sites regarding content depicting “gratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail”.

The commissioner said on Friday the process of compliance with X was “unnecessarily long” and she was considering further regulatory action.

Ms Rowland said “it doesn’t matter who you are: if you operate here, you need to comply with Australian law.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

“Our message to Australians is please do not share or engage with this content. It is distressing and may very well cause harm to vulnerable Australians – including children,” she said.

Peter Dutton said he would support tougher laws to force ­social media platforms to remove violent content.