Where to Next in Australia’s Battle With Elon Musk and X?
- by The Diplomat
- Apr 30, 2024
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The Australian government’s battle with Elon Musk and X over violent content appears admirable, but will it change anything for those vulnerable to its harm?
By Credit: Depositphotos
Over three days in April, Australia’s delicate social media ecosystem was blown apart. The thin line between online regulation and the circulation of disinformation unraveled. In its place now sits a new polarized debate between free speech absolutism and the safeguarding of users from violent content.
Two stabbing attacks in Sydney — including one that was live-streamed — narrowed the focus on the significant role of social media platforms when public violence occurs.
After the attacks that killed six people and wounded many others in the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping mall on April 13, social media wrongly identified the
assailant as a young Jewish university student
. The allegation was picked up by one of Australia’s leading commercial TV networks before it was corrected, leading to racist and antisemitic online commentary about the individual because of the false rumors.
The stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel two days later at an Assyrian Church of Christ in southwestern Sydney was live-streamed to the world, sparking demand the raw, unedited footage be removed from social media platforms altogether.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner ordered social media platform X to remove graphic videos of the church stabbing from its site.
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