Tech billionaire accused of censorship after court orders removal of bishop stabbing video
A tech billionaire has been accused of censorship after an Australian judge ruled that his social media platform must block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.
The accusation follows a court order requiring the platform, X, to remove the footage. The platform’s owner, Elon Musk, has since criticized the decision.
The incident has sparked a debate about the role of social media companies in regulating violent content and ensuring online safety.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded by describing Musk as an arrogant billionaire who considered himself above the law and was out of touch with the public.
Albanese said on Monday that social media posts, misinformation, and dissemination of violent images had exacerbated suffering from the church attack, which the two clerics survived, as well as a knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall two days earlier that killed six people.
X’s Global Government Affairs team said Saturday that Inman Grant ordered it to remove some posts that commented on the church attack, but it said the posts did not violate X’s rules on violent speech.
The live feed of the church attack and social media posts that followed attracted a crowd of 2,000 people and fueled a riot against police, who barricaded the young suspected attacker inside the place of worship.
