iTWire - Elon Musk's X rejects eSafety demand on stabbing videos

Sunday, 21 April 2024 06:30

Elon Musk's X rejects eSafety demand on stabbing videos Featured

By Sam Varghese

X owner Elon Musk has issued a challenge to the eSafety Commission.

Image by Iván Jesus Rojas from Pixabay

The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has refused to comply with an order from the Australian eSafety commission to take down content related to the stabbing attack in Sydney, saying it does not violate its rules on violent content.

In a post issued by its Global Government Affairs team on Saturday — and endorsed by Elon Musk — X said: "The recent attacks in Australia are a horrific assault on free society. Our condolences go out to those who have been affected, and we stand with the Australian people in calling for those responsible to be brought to justice."

Last week, the bishop of an Australian Christian order was stabbed while speaking at a church. The incident has been declared a terrorist attack by the Australian authorities.

The X post continued: "Following these events, the Australian eSafety Commissioner [Julie Inman Grant] ordered X 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 has now received a demand from the eSafety Commissioner that X globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of A$785,000 (US$500,000).

"This was a tragic event and we do not allow people to praise it or call for further violence. There is a public conversation happening about the event, on X and across Australia, as is often the case when events of major public concern occur.

"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 takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere."

Musk offered a one-line comment on this post: "The Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans!"

Numerous comments under the post expressed support for the stance taken by the platform.

On Friday, the eSafety Commission issued a statement saying it had "issued link deletion notices to search engines — limiting discoverability of this material in Australia — together with further Class 1 removal notices to sites. We will take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with these notices".

The statement, not attributed to any individual, added: "In relation to X Corp, eSafety is working to ensure the company’s full and complete compliance with Australian law. We are considering whether further regulatory action is warranted.

"eSafety is disappointed that process has been unnecessarily prolonged, rather than prioritising the safety of Australians and the Australian community."

This is the second instance this year of a major American social media platform challenging the Australian Government and its functionaries.

In February, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said it would not be renewing deals it had struck in 2021 with Australian media companies under the government's news media bargaining code.

Facebook upped the ante in April, shutting down its news tab in Australia. The government has not made any public statsment about Facebopok's action.

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