Federal court rejects request to extend ban of Sydney church stabbing on X

The Federal Court has denied the Australian eSafety Commissioner’s request to extend a temporary order for social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to ban graphic videos of a violent Syndey church stabbing.

The Australian government and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant have been trying to force Elon Musk to block posts on X, depicting the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Western Syndey on 15 April.

Under the Online Safety Act 2021, Commissioner Grant has the power to demand the removal of “material that depicts abhorrent violent conduct”.

Musk refused the Commissioner’s order to completely remove the video and agreed to a “geoblock”. He argued that complying with the order would mean going against freedom of speech laws.

He also argued that the posts did not meet the threshold for removal under the Act: the videos were not overly graphic, nor did they incite terrorism.

The Commissioner succeeding in obtaining a temporary injunction from the Federal Court to force Musk to remove the videos globally from X while the issue took place in court.

The eSafety Commissioner was not satisfied with a geoblock, arguing in a court hearing on Friday that simply geoblocking the content from Australian users was insufficient as they can still see the posts using a VPN.

X’s lawyers argued that the eSafety Commissioner should not have the jurisdiction to order footage be removed globally.

“This is very concerning that this country [Australia] would take the approach of: ‘If this is the only way to control what is available to users in Australia then, yes, we say it is a reasonable step… to deny to everybody on Earth.’

“We believe that no government should possess such authority.”

The order made last month expires on Monday 5pm after Justice Geoffrey Kennett refused to extend the injunction order.

A final hearing is expected to be scheduled in the next few weeks.