Elon Musk's brutal response to Australia's online watchdog after X was asked to ... trends now
Elon Musk and his social media company X have vowed to fight orders by Australia's online watchdog to remove content related to the alleged Sydney church stabbing attack.
On Tuesday, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said social media giants X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook parent company Meta, would be issued a notice of removal.
The notice relates to content depicting 'gratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail' following the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, which was captured on an online broadcast of the service.
In a tweet early Saturday local time, Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in April 2022, claimed 'The Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans'.
Threatened with fines it failed to comply with the order, X's global government affair's team claimed posts it had been ordered to remove did not violate its rules on violent speech.
Elon Musk and X have been told by the Australian e-safety watchdog it could be fined more than $700,000 a day if they don't take down content linked to a Sydney church stabbing
In a statement, which was shared by Musk, the social media giant said 'recent attacks in Australia are a horrific assault on free society' but vowed to fight the removal notice.
'The Australian eSafety Commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop,' X said.
'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.'
The company described the alleged stabbing of the Assyrian church leader as 'a tragic event' and said it did '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,' X said.
'While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content users can see globally. We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court.
'Global take-down orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere.'
Video of the alleged stabbing, which was live-streamed, has become a sore spot for police and political leaders attempting to quell fears of further intra-communal violence.
The alleged attack was captured on an online broadcast of the church service
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