Elon Musk victory as judge overturns ban on church stabbing video posts

Elon Musk’s X has had a win over the Australian government after the Federal Court overturned a legal block on videos of the Sydney church stabbing.

The eSafety Commission won a temporary court injunction last month after X refused to comply with a takedown order made by the Australian regulator.

Musk had argued that by blocking the video to all Australians – including those using networks that hide their location – the watchdog was in effect seeking a global ban outside its jurisdiction.

Justice Geoffrey Kennett on Monday rejected a bid to extend the injunction until a full trial on the merits of the regulator’s demand, which will be held at a later day.

“The orders of the court will be that the application to extend … is refused,” he said. A full statement on the reasons for his judgement will be heard in coming weeks.

The injunction forced X to hide about 65 posts which included videos of the Wakeley church stabbing. Authorities suspect the teen attacker was motivated by religious extremism.

The eSafety Commission is worried that the video could be used to radicalise people online. But lawyers acting for X Corp argued the video should never have been the subject of a removal notice because it was not overly graphic, did not glorify terrorism and did not meet the legal threshold for removal under Australian law.

The decision does not represent a final legal win for X in the case that sparked weeks of local debate about online harm and a war of words between Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.