Musk victory as judge overturns ban on church stabbing video posts
By Paul Sakkal
Elon Musk’s X Corp has had a win over the Australian government after the Federal Court overturned a legal block on videos of last month’s Sydney church stabbing.
The eSafety Commissioner won a temporary court injunction last month after X refused to comply with a takedown order made by the Australian regulator.
X owner Elon Musk has had a win in the Australian courts. Credit: Bloomberg
Musk had argued that by blocking the video to all Australians – including those using networks that hid 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 date.
“The orders of the court will be that the application to extend … is refused,” he said. A full statement on the reasons for his judgment will be released in the coming days.
“Not trying to win anything. I just don’t think we should be suppressing Australian’s [sic] rights to free speech,” Musk posted on X in response to a news article on the court ruling.
The decision does not represent a final legal win for X in the case, which has sparked weeks of local debate about online harm and a war of words between Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose government is also pushing laws to crack down on online misinformation and last week launched an inquiry into harm caused by social media.
But senior legal sources involved in the case, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Monday’s interim decision was an important win for X that proved the legitimacy of its case.
The injunction had forced X to hide about 65 posts that included videos of the Wakeley church stabbing. Authorities suspect the alleged attacker was motivated by religious extremism, and police and eSafety have raised concerns the video could be used to radicalise people online.
But X lawyer Bret Walker, SC, last week argued the video did not meet the legal threshold for removal under Australian law because it was not overly graphic and did not glorify terrorism.
“It would be a travesty,” Walker added, to suggest the video advocated for others to commit acts of terrorism.
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