Elon Musk lashes out against Australian court demand to remove stabbing video on X

X owner Elon Musk claimed that Australia was censoring the platform’s content for people in other countries as well

Published - April 23, 2024 08:20 am IST

Elon Musk has accused Australia’s eSafety commissioner of censoring content for people around the world [File]

Elon Musk has accused Australia’s eSafety commissioner of censoring content for people around the world [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Elon Musk lashed out against the Australian government after his platform was ordered by a court to take down videos and media that showed the stabbing of Orthodox Christian leader Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney on April 15.

The country’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, had earlier told X and Meta to remove the violent media from their platforms within 24 hours.

This week, the Federal Court of Australia ordered the video to be removed from X until Wednesday, and said another hearing would take place to assess Grant’s removal order.

“Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian “eSafety Commissar” is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet? We have already censored the content in question for Australia, pending legal appeal, and it is stored only on servers in the USA,” posted Musk on X on Tuesday, in response to losing the court challenge.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese harshly criticised Musk over his refusal to comply.

X also said that the Australian government wanted it to censor some posts commenting on the attack, claiming that the comments in question did not break the platform’s hate speech rules.

“X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge. X has now received a demand from the eSafety Commissioner that X globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000 AUD (about $500,000 USD),” posted the company on April 19.

X has loosened its content moderation rules since it came under Musk’s leadership. While its owner claims this is a victory for free speech, the platform has seen a surge in users trying to monetise violent videos and adult content.

Musk’s refusal to comply with the Australian administration is also likely to spook more traditional advertisers, who want tech companies to maintain amicable relations with their government and their audience.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.