Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says she wants social media companies to be subject to more regulation as a bitter fight to remove the violent footage of the Sydney church stabbing wages on.
“They are creating civil division, social unrest, just about every problem that we have as a country is either being exacerbated or caused by social media and we’re not seeing a skerrick of responsibility by these companies,” Ms O’Neil told Channel 7.
“Instead, we’re seeing megalomaniacs like Elon Musk going to court to fight for the right to show alleged terrorist content on his platform.
“There is no way that these social media platforms are going to do the right thing voluntarily and we need to step up and do better as a parliament to make sure that we regulate them.”
Ms O’Neil’s comments came ahead of an address by ASIO director-general of security Mike Burgess, who will lash social media companies for not doing enough to curb rising extremism online.
Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant ordered X and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to remove footage of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley last week.
Musk’s X objected, vowing to fight the order, claiming restricting the visibility of the footage – or geoblocking – to people in Australia was sufficient.
But in a late Monday night court hearing, lawyers for the eSafety commissioner argued that geoblocking did not go far enough to comply with the Online Safety Act – given Australians using a VPN could still see it.
A two-day temporary injunction was granted, meaning X must hide the posts until the matter returns to court on Wednesday when lawyers can argue against the injunction before a final decision is made.
In a written statement issued ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, an eSafety spokesperson recognised that it would not be possible to remove all content from the attack online.
“While it may be difficult to eradicate damaging content from the internet entirely, particularly as users continue to repost it, eSafety requires platforms to do everything practical and reasonable to minimise the harm it may cause to Australians and the Australian community,” they said.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland conceded the take-downs could only be issued to known URLs.
“The notices are issued at a particular point in time regarding certain URLs, so they do change over time,” she said told ABC’s RN.
“That is why some users will see this content, but I make the point that I have made on every occasion; if people see this content as it proliferates, people should not forward it.
“They should report it.”
Meanwhile, in a series of posts overnight, Mr Musk mocked Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, who removed herself from the platform in the wake of the saga.
She deleted her X account after lashing Mr Musk as a “friggin’ disgrace” who “should be jailed”.
Mr Musk sensationally labelled her “an enemy of the people of Australia” and “this woman has utter contempt for the Australian people”.
In another, the tech boss replied to a clip of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticising Mr Musk’s refusal to remove the content from the platform.
“X is the only one standing up for the rights of Australians,” Mr Musk wrote.
Senator Lambie has been contacted for comment.