Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, on May 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.
Abu Gomez | Getty Images
Australia announced on Wednesday that it has dropped its legal battle against Elon Musk to remove graphic footage of a stabbing in a Sydney church from the social media platform.
The dispute was widely seen as a test of the Australian government's ability to impose online safety standards on social media giants.
Julie Inman-Grant, Commissioner of Australia's Internet Safety Regulator, said in a statement that after considering “multiple considerations”, she decided that halting the measures was “likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children.”
“Our sole goal and focus in issuing the takedown notice was to prevent this extremely violent footage from spreading, potentially inciting further violence and causing further harm to the Australian community. I stand by the investigators and the decisions made by eSafety,” Inman-Grant said, In reference to Australia's independent online safety regulator.
X's global government affairs team welcomed the news, saying in a post that the company is “relieved to see that freedom of expression has prevailed.”
“Freedom of expression is worth fighting for,” Musk also posted on X, shortly after the announcement.
Bishop Mar Mary Emmanuel was stabbed during a live-streamed sermon in Sydney in mid-April that was widely circulated online, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. He survived the accident.
Following the attack, which police declared a terrorist incident, the Australian Cyber Safety Commissioner obtained an interim injunction ordering X to hide posts that showed the footage.
Musk challenged the previous court order as an assault on free speech.
Last month, the Musk-owned social media platform got a reprieve in Australia when a court refused to extend a temporary order to globally ban videos of the Sydney church stabbing.
War of words
The legal dispute has sparked a war of words between senior Australian officials and Musk.
In an interview in late April, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who believes he is above Australian law.
Referring to Albanese, Musk responded to X: “I don't believe I'm above the law. Does the Prime Minister think he should have jurisdiction over the entire Earth?”
He added: “This platform adheres to the laws of the countries in those countries, but it would be inappropriate for the provisions of one country to extend to other countries.”
Musk also described e-Safety Commissioner Inman Grant as an “oversight commissioner” to pursue a global ban on graphic footage.
Inman-Grant told ABC News that Musk's attack on her led to a growing number of his millions of online followers, along with death threats and disclosure of her children's personal information online.
— CNBC's Sumathi Bala contributed to this report.
