Melbourne, Australia – Tech billionaire Elon Musk found himself in a heated battle with Australian authorities after a judge ruled that his social media platform, X, must globally block users from accessing a video showing a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded by criticizing Musk, calling him an “arrogant billionaire” who believed he was above the law and out of touch with the public.
X Corp., formerly known as Twitter before Musk’s rebranding in 2023, announced its decision to fight Australian orders to remove posts related to the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. The Australian regulator, eSafety Commission, successfully applied for a temporary global ban on sharing the video of the stabbing, leading Justice Geoffrey Kennett to suppress the footage from all X users until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
In response to the ban, Musk posted a cartoon on his personal X account depicting a fork in the road with one path leading to “free speech” and “truth,” and the other to “censorship” and “propaganda.” This move was in direct reference to comments made by Albanese, who stated that other social media platforms had complied with the regulator’s orders to remove violent content.
Albanese, in various television interviews, criticized Musk for prioritizing ego and violence over common sense, emphasizing the importance of social responsibility in the realm of social media. He highlighted the impact of social media posts, misinformation, and dissemination of violent images on exacerbating suffering following the church attack and a separate knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall.
X’s Global Government Affairs team revealed that the eSafety Commissioner had ordered the removal of certain posts discussing the church attack, threatening the platform with a hefty daily fine if they did not comply. Despite X’s belief that the order exceeded Australian law, the platform decided to temporarily remove the posts pending a legal challenge.
The aftermath of the church attack led to a riot that injured numerous police officers and caused damage to patrol vehicles. Amidst the chaos, three alleged rioters were arrested, with authorities releasing images of 12 suspects accused of instigating the violence. In connection to the stabbings, a 16-year-old suspect faced terrorism charges, receiving both condemnation and praise online for his actions.