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Elon Musk and his social media company X have pledged to fight Australia\u2019s online safety watchdog over posts about the alleged Western Sydney church stabbing. The CEO has accused Australia\u2019s eSafety commissioner of censorship and has vowed to challenge an order to remove content on X, formerly Twitter, relating to the horrific incident in court.

On Tuesday, X and Meta were issued a notice to remove material within 24 hours that depicted \u201cgratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail\u201d.

The companies were warned that if they failed to comply, they could face potential fines of up to AU$785,000 a day.

The move is related to the\xa0alleged stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley on Monday night.

The horrific alleged stabbing was all caught on camera due to the service being livestreamed, which saw graphic uncensored clips of the alleged attack to be widely circulated online.

However, the company stated that the posts did not violate X\u2019s rules on violent speech.

A statement from X\u2019s global government affairs team, which was reposted by Musk, said the company complied with the directive by the commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to remove \u201ccertain posts in Australia that publicly commented\u201d on Monday\u2019s attack.

\u201cThe recent attacks in Australia are a horrific assault on free society. Our condolences go out to those who have been affected, and we stand with the Australian people in calling for those responsible to be brought to justice,\u201d the statement read.

\u201cFollowing these events, the Australian eSafety Commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop.

\u201cThese posts did not violate X\u2019s rules on violent speech.

\u201cX believes that eSafety\u2019s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge.

\u201cX has now received a demand from the eSafety Commissioner that X globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000 AUD (about $500,000 USD).

\u201cThis was a tragic event and we do not allow people to praise it or call for further violence.

\u201cThere is a public conversation happening about the event, on X and across Australia, as is often the case when events of major public concern occur.

\u201cWhile X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X\u2019s users can see globally.

\u201cWe will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court.

\u201cGlobal takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere.\u201d

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told reporters in Adelaide that the government would take X to task if it wanted to pursue the matter in court.

\u201cAustralia is not going to be bullied by Elon Musk, or any other tech billionaire, in our commitment to making sure that social media is a safe space,\u201d Butler said.

\u201cSo if he wants to fight that fine in court, well, we\u2019re up for that fight.\u201d

There have been calls for harsher sanctions for social media platforms in light of the April 13\xa0Westfield Bondi massacre\xa0that claimed six lives.

Distressing and graphic footage of the attack was rapidly uploaded online, and misinformation spread.

NSW Premier Chris Minns blasted X on Saturday and said it was time for penalties for social media companies to be strengthened.

\u201cThis is exactly as I\u2019d expect from X, or Twitter, or whatever you want to call it,\u201d Minns told reporters.

\u201cA disregard for the information that they pump into our communities, lies and rumours spreading like wildfire.

\u201cThen when things go wrong, throwing their hands up in the air to say that they\u2019re not prepared to do anything about it.\u201d

The NSW premier and other leaders met with Assyrian community groups after the alleged church stabbing and stated that they collectively condemned the violence.

\u201cIf anyone acts in that way, they are doing it in complete defiance of the religious leadership of NSW and it is against the law,\u201d Minns said.

A 16-year-old male was\xa0charged with a terrorism offence\xa0over the incident and will face court in June.

eSafety said it expected platforms to make \u201cgenuine efforts\u201d to protect Australians from harmful content.

\u201ceSafety is aware social media users continue to upload and reshare distressing content and appreciates it is challenging for platforms to manage this,\u201d the statement said.

\u201cWe are also aware some platforms are responding by applying technological solutions to prevent or reduce proliferation \u2026 eSafety welcomes these actions.\u201d

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that social media companies were responsible for protecting the community from the spread of troubling content.

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t need the eSafety commissioner to intervene, to direct companies, in this case X and Meta, to take down violent videos,\u201d he said.

\u201cWe are prepared to take whatever action is necessary to haul these companies into line.

\u201cWe\u2019ve made that very clear because of the damage that a failure to act can have.\u201d

- by Jasmine Kazlauskas, news.com.au

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