An Australian court ordered social network X to remove a video of an attack on an Assyrian bishop in Sydney, but the company’s owner Elon Musk (Ilon Musk) refuses to do so, Reuters news agency reported.
April 15 a young Muslim attacked the bishop of the Church of Christ the Good Shepherd in the suburb of Veiklis with a knife. A video of the attack was broadcast online, sparking riots. The parishioners demanded that the criminal be handed over to them.
Australia’s e the security commissioner demanded that the video be removed from all social networks. X complied with the order, but the ruling only applied to Australian consumers.
Australian authorities believed this would allow locals to circumvent the restrictions and went to court. The court ordered X to pay a fine of half a million dollars per day if the video is not removed.
But Musk fears the Australian precedent will pave the way for content censorship in other countries, and believes banning the video violates free speech. He said X would remove posts praising the terrorist attack, but the video itself should remain available.
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In turn, Australian Prime Minister Anthony’s Albanese called Musk “an arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law.” The authorities believe that showing the video could provoke new attacks and do not agree that the ban on the video violates freedom of speech.
However, the aforementioned footage is only partially blocked. In fact, even Australian users haven’t removed them. For example, the video can still be found on the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) account. It states that the publication is important to the safety of the community.
“Politicians do not take the risk of extremism seriously enough. Meanwhile, one of the benefits of showing exactly what happened is a public awakening. Politicians often don’t act without public pressure, so you have to be aware of the risks,” AJA President David Adler told CNN.
Tags: Musk owner social network refused remove video attack bishop Sydney
