The simple way Aussies can skirt Elon Musk's attempt to block violent church ... trends now
Elon Musk's initial attempts to block Australians from viewing violent video content following a government order were easily thwarted by technology up to 25 per cent of all Aussies use: a VPN.
The Albanese government and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant are locked in a bitter standoff with Musk after he failed to comply with an order to remove from his X app violent video of an attack on a bishop during his church service on April 15.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett presided over an interlocutory hearing on Friday ahead of a full hearing, during which he heard arguments from both sides about the far-reaching consequences of the Australian government's request.
Bret Walker SC, acting for X, told the court the Australian government's request to remove the footage from the app across the globe was an example of overreach 'literally larger than anything else could be'.
'It is at odds with what one would expect or hope for from one national regime,' he said.
Meanwhile lawyers acting for the eSafety Commissioner argued that X's move to geoblock disturbing video of the violent crimes - meaning they would be unavailable to Australian users - was unsatisfactory.
While Meta moved swifty to remove the content entirely from its services, Musk's X instead simply geoblocked the content from Aussies - 65 posts in total.
The Albanese government and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant are locked in a bitter standoff with Musk (pictured)
But lawyer Tim Begbie KC told the court that staff at the eSafety Commissioner's office 'were able to use standard VPNs to access videos banned from Australia'.
They did so on multiple occasions 'from an adult's account, a child's account and not logged in at all'.
A VPN can mask a user's IP address and re-route a connection so that it appears as though it's coming from anywhere else in the world.
Mr Begbie said this proved that the measures X took to protect Australians from violent content did not go far enough.
'To say that the geoblocking system has holes in it... is a profound understatement,' he said.
'The fact that those really not very sophisticated ways of accessing it could immediately be done is something your honour would be troubled about.'
Six people were fatally stabbed during a rampage inside Westfield in Sydney 's east, ending only when a brave police officer shot dead attacker Joel Cauchi
The eSafety Commission won a temporary injunction in April from the Federal Court to have the footage removed globally while the matter played out in court.
At 5pm on Friday, that injunction officially lapsed. However, Justice Kennett renewed the injunction in spite of 'imperfections' until 5pm Monday, in order to give him time to consider any further ban.
Mr Walker, for X, argued the only way to block users in Australia from viewing the content via a VPN would be to effectively remove the footage globally.
'The idea that it's better for the whole world not to see this obviously newsworthy matter... that nobody can see it pending determination following a
