Sydney:
Elon Musk said on Tuesday that his social media platform X will appeal against an Australian order forcing him to take down a video of a stabbing at a church in Sydney.
Australia’s internet watchdog obtained an injunction late Monday, forcing X to hide videos that allegedly show a Sydney bishop being beheaded during a live-streamed sermon.
X ignored earlier Australian requests to remove the images, and Musk said the company would appeal the order on free speech grounds.
“Our concern is that if any country is allowed to censor content for all countries, which is what the Australian ‘Safety Commissioner’ is calling for, what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet, ” the tech billionaire posted on X.
“We have already censored the content in question for Australia, pending a legal appeal, and it is only stored on US servers,” he added.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Musk was an “arrogant billionaire” who was blind to the outrage the videos caused.
“We will do what is necessary to take this arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law, but also above common decency,” Albanese told public broadcaster ABC.
“The idea that someone would go to court over the right to put violent content on a platform shows how out of touch Mr. Musk is.”
Australia’s e-Safety Commission was granted a late-night X to compel the removal of footage of the church stabbing for two days.
The case will return to court later this week.
X blocked the videos in Australia, but they can still be viewed by users in other parts of the world.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was allegedly stabbed in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect last week, sparking a riot by followers of the Assyrian Christian Church in western Sydney.
The video of the bloody attack, which went viral on social media platforms, has been blamed by Australian authorities for creating tension in the community.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)