Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/13351707
Australia’s prime minister has labelled X’s owner, Elon Musk, an “arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law” as the rift deepens between Australia and the tech platform over the removal of videos of a violent stabbing in a Sydney church.
On Monday evening in an urgent last-minute federal court hearing, the court ordered a two-day injunction against X to hide posts globally containing the footage of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on 15 April. The eSafety commissioner had previously directed X to remove the posts, but X had only blocked them from access in Australia pending a legal challenge.
Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said Musk was “a bloke who’s chosen ego and showing violence over common sense”.
“Australians will shake their head when they think that this billionaire is prepared to go to court fighting for the right to sow division and to show violent videos,” he told Sky News. “He is in social media, but he has a social responsibility in order to have that social licence.”
“What the eSafety commissioner is doing is doing her job to protect the interests of Australians. And the idea that someone would go to court for the right to put up violent content on a platform shows how out of touch Mr Musk is,” he said.
Uh, the text goes on to say:
“including its immediate and permanent removal, without prejudice to law enforcement and user appeals requirements”
In other words, if law enforcement asks you to take it down, you will. That does not appear to have occurred here.
Again, they’re not obeying the Christchurch agreement they signed. I agree with you on that point. That was not the point of my comment.
Well I’ve heard commentary here from at least half a dozen legal professionals and experts that the order made by the eSafety commissioner here is legal and appropriate.
One pointed out that this means that representatives of the organisation visiting Australia could end up behind bars.
Others point out that this could result in a ban of the platform.
Fortunately I’m not a lawyer and I don’t pretend to be one on the internet. I guess we’ll both see how this plays out…
It may be legal and appropriate according to Australian law. That doesn’t mean the rest of us around the world are ok with abiding by their laws and whatever they decide is ‘acceptable’ for us to watch. Especially given Australia’s history of censorship when it comes to media and culture.