The eSafety Commissioner has been granted a two-day legal injunction to compel X to hide posts that include graphic footage relating to the Wakeley stabbing.
The eSafety Commissioner ordered X and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to take down the Wakeley-related material last week. Meta complied, but X objected, accusing the commissioner of overstepping her legal powers.
The eSafety Commissioner has now taken the matter to court, arguing that X has failed to comply with the law because its interim action was to "geoblock" the content, not delete it. Geoblocking means the content cannot be viewed in Australia, but this can be circumvented by anyone using a virtual private network (VPN), which obscures a user's location.
Lawyers for the eSafety Commission told the federal court that geoblocking was not enough to comply with the Online Safety Act. That law empowers the eSafety Commissioner to order the removal of material that "promotes, incites, instructs in or depicts abhorrent violent conduct, such as kidnapping, rape, torture, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts", if it could "go viral and cause significant harm to the Australian community".
The judge granted a temporary injunction for two days, giving X time to respond but siding with the eSafety Commissioner in the meantime. This means that, within 24 hours, X must hide the posts in question from all users worldwide, in the form of a warning notice covering the posts, which users cannot remove.
X will then have the opportunity to argue against the injunction request on Wednesday before a final decision is made.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday affirmed his full support for the eSafety Commissioner and his expectation that X comply. "This isn't about freedom of expression … Social media has a social responsibility," he said.