X vows to oppose order to remove posts about Sydney stabbing

Australian regulators will be ‘robustly challenged’ in court

X confirmed it will confront in court the order from an Australian regulator demanding the platform removes posts about the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney

A 16-year-old boy was charged, by the police on Thursday, with a terrorism offence for the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Sydney church a week ago.

X's Global Government Affairs posted that the Australian eSafety Commissioner had ordered X "to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop." This was despite the posts staying within X's violent speech rules.

X complied, pending legal challenge, but was asked to withhold posts globally or face a daily penalty of A$785,000 ($500,000), stated X.

"X believes that eSafety's order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge," said X.

"The eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X's users can see globally," X added. "We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court."

An agency spokesperson referred to an eSafety Commissioner statement working towards ensuring X's conformity with the Australian law.

"We are considering whether further regulatory action is warranted," the regulator said.

In March, X (among other social media platforms) received legal letters from an Australian government body demanding information about the measures they used to detect and remove terrorism and other illegal content.

The action is not surprising given X owner Elon Musk's oft quoted free speech 'absolutism' and willingness to threaten legal action to any organisation which is seen to threaten the rights of X users to post all sorts of questionable content.