Elon Musk has had a win over the Australian government in a federal court decision to overturn a ban on videos of the Sydney church stabbing.
The judge chose not to extend a temporary order for the social media platform X to hide videos of the terrorist attack globally online.
Under Australia’s Online Safety Act, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant filed an injunction to force the platform to take down more than 60 instances of the footage showing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanual being stabbed during an online sermon in April.
Authorities suspected the teen attacker was motivated by religious extremism.
While X agreed to "geoblock" the posts — meaning Australians could no longer see them — it refused the eSafety Commissioner's global removal notice and vowed to challenge it.
Musk also threatened to sue, sparking a war of words with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called him an "arrogant billionaire".
However, today, Justice Geoffrey Kennett said: "The orders of the court will be that the application to extend is refused."
A full statement on the reasons for his judgement would be heard in the coming weeks.
Counsel for the eSafety Commission said if the social media giant’s defiance led to a lapse of the court's orders, then "what that says about the authority of the court is pretty striking".
Failing to comply with court orders could ultimately lead to a contempt of court charge, which, in X’s case, would have resulted in fines of up to AUD$800,000 (NZD$876,938.48) for every day the posts were up.
But lawyers representing X argued the video should never have been the subject of a removal notice because “it was not overly graphic” and “did not glorify terrorism”.
A final hearing was expected within a matter of weeks.
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