Australia’s online safety regulator has won a court bid to force the social media platform X to remove videos of the alleged terrorist attack at a church in Sydney.
The regulator, eSafety, won the injunction in the Federal Court against X, formerly known as Twitter, to force the removal of “extremely violent video content” of the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley last week.
After the alleged attack, eSafety said it worked cooperatively with other companies, including Google, Microsoft, Snap and TikTok, to remove the same material.
“Some of these companies have taken additional, proactive steps to reduce further spread of the material. We thank them for those efforts,” an eSafety spokesperson said.
However the regulator took umbrage with X Corp and Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
eSafety said the two companies “were not taking adequate steps to protect Australians from this material”, and issued both with formal notices to remove material from their platforms.
eSafety said it was satisfied with Meta’s response, but not with X Corp, and thus sought the court injunction.
The court’s interim injunction ends at 5pm on Wednesday to allow time for a second hearing.
“To be clear, the removal notice does not relate to commentary, public debate or other posts about this event. It only concerns the video of the violent stabbing attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel,” an eSafety spokesperson said.
“eSafety will continue to use its suite of powers under the Online Safety Act to protect Australians from serious online harms, including extreme violent content.”
