Sydney:
Elon Musk's X said on Saturday it will fight an Australian watchdog's order to remove content related to the brutal stabbing of a priest during a live-streamed church service in Sydney.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was allegedly struck in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect on Monday, sparking a riot among followers of the Assyrian Christian Church in Sydney's west.
The bishop has since sent a message from the hospital saying he is recovering from his wounds and has forgiven his attacker.
The video of the bloody attack, which spread widely on social media platforms, has been blamed by Australian authorities for fueling community tensions.
X's government affairs department said it had complied with an initial eSafety directive, “pending a legal challenge”, to “remove certain posts in Australia commenting on the recent attack”.
But the social media platform said it later received a request from Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant to “withhold the messages globally”.
X said it had been warned it faced a daily fine of Aus$785,000 (US$500,000) for non-compliance.
“Australian Censorship Commissioner Demands *Global* Content Bans!” Musk wrote as he reshared the company's response.
“The eSafety Commissioner does not have the power to dictate what content X users worldwide can see. We will vigorously challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court,” said X.
'Shocked'
X said the messages did not violate its own rules on violent speech.
The eSafety watchdog said on Friday it was working to ensure X's “full and complete compliance” with Australian law.
“We are considering whether further regulatory action is necessary,” the report said.
The authority said it was “disappointed that the process was unnecessarily prolonged instead of prioritizing the safety of Australians and the Australian community”.
eSafety said it is also working with major social media platforms to repost and share content that depicts or encourages terrorism or other extreme violence.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has issued scathing criticism of the role some platforms are playing in making violent images of the attack available.
“I am shocked, but not surprised,” he said on Saturday when asked about X's statement.
“That's exactly what I would expect from X or Twitter or whatever you want to call it: a disregard for the information they've pumped into our communities, lies and rumors spreading like wildfire,” Minns said.
“And when something goes wrong, they throw up their hands to say they don't want to do anything about it.”
Minns called for strengthening rules for social media companies.
'We've had enough. Sydney has had enough.'
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)