The recent controversy surrounding the sharing of unedited violent footage of the Wakeley church stabbing attack has caused a rift between political figures, social media platforms, and law enforcement agencies in Australia. Federal Senator Ralph Babet, elected under Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, openly defied the government's attempts to remove the footage by posting a clip on X and Facebook, arguing that free speech is essential for democracy and condemning the Liberal party, Labor party, and the eSafety commissioner for their actions.
Communication Minister Michelle Rowland and other officials have condemned Senator Babet’s actions, labeling them as "appalling" and showing disrespect towards the victims and law enforcement involved in the tragic incident. The feud escalated as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese engaged in a war of words with Elon Musk, criticizing the billionaire for supporting the platform that refused to comply with the eSafety commissioner’s order to remove the graphic videos of the stabbing attack, which resulted in a court ruling against X temporarily pulling the posts from its site.
The controversy also highlighted the differing responses of social media companies to such incidents. While X faced backlash for not removing the violent content, Meta, the corporate owner of Facebook and Instagram, detailed a swift and proactive approach to handling similar content. Meta's emergency response team worked closely with authorities to remove any content related to the attacks, categorizing the incidents as "terrorism" and swiftly addressing misinformation about the attackers. Despite Meta’s prompt actions, the ongoing dispute between X and the Australian government underscores the broader conversation around the responsibilities of social media platforms in safeguarding their users from harmful content.