Elon Musk‘s initial attempts to block Australians from viewing violent video content following a government order were easily thwarted by technology up to 25 per cent of all Aussies use: a VPN.
The Albanese government and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant are locked in a bitter standoff with Musk after he failed to comply with an order to remove from his X app violent video of an attack on a bishop during his church service on April 15.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett presided over an interlocutory hearing on Friday ahead of a full hearing, during which he heard arguments from both sides about the far-reaching consequences of the Australian government’s request.
Bret Walker SC, acting for X, told the court the Australian government’s request to remove the footage from the app across the globe was an example of overreach ‘literally larger than anything else could be’.
‘It is at odds with what one would expect or hope for from one national regime,’ he said.
Meanwhile lawyers acting for the eSafety Commissioner argued that X’s move to geoblock disturbing video of the violent crimes – meaning they would be unavailable to Australian users – was unsatisfactory.
While Meta moved swifty to remove the content entirely from its services, Musk’s X instead simply geoblocked the content from Aussies – 65 posts in total.
The Albanese government and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant are locked in a bitter standoff with Musk (pictured)
But lawyer Tim Begbie KC told the court that staff at the eSafety Commissioner’s office ‘were able to use standard VPNs to access videos banned from Australia’.
They did so on multiple occasions ‘from an adult’s account, a child’s account and not logged in at all’.
A VPN can mask a user’s IP address and re-route a connection so that it appears as though it’s coming from anywhere else in the world.
Mr Begbie said this proved that the measures X took to protect Australians from violent content did not go far enough.
‘To say that the geoblocking system has holes in it… is a profound understatement,’ he said.
‘The fact that those really not very sophisticated ways of accessing it could immediately be done is something your honour would be troubled about.’
Six people were fatally stabbed during a rampage inside Westfield in Sydney ‘s east, ending only when a brave police officer shot dead attacker Joel Cauchi
The eSafety Commission won a temporary injunction in April from the Federal Court to have the footage removed globally while the matter played out in court.
At 5pm on Friday, that injunction officially lapsed. However, Justice Kennett renewed the injunction in spite of ‘imperfections’ until 5pm Monday, in order to give him time to consider any further ban.
Mr Walker, for X, argued the only way to block users in Australia from viewing the content via a VPN would be to effectively remove the footage globally.
‘The idea that it’s better for the whole world not to see this obviously newsworthy matter… that nobody can see it pending determination following a hearing which has not yet been fixed… that notion is a startling one,’ Mr Walker said.
‘That is a really remarkable proposition. This is very concerning that this country would take the approach of: “If this is the only way to control what is available to users in Australia then, yes, we say it is a reasonable step… to deny to everybody on Earth”.
X faces daily fines of $785,000 for noncompliance, but Musk has vowed to challenge the ruling on two fronts.
Lawyers for X argue the content depicted in these videos should not be banned under Australian law, and that, regardless, the eSafety commissioner should not have the jurisdiction to order footage be removed globally.
‘We believe that no government should possess such authority,’ the company said.
Authorities have also expressed concern that access to such footage could pave the way for copycat attacks.
Six people were fatally stabbed at the Westfield shopping centre in Sydney‘s east during the incident, ending only when a brave police officer shot dead attacker Joel Cauchi.
Distressing footage quickly spread via social media platforms – namely X and Facebook – prompting online witch hunts as an innocent person was falsely named as the perpetrator.
Beyond that, graphic and violent footage made its way onto newsfeeds and ‘For You’ pages across the world, prompting an intervention by the government’s e-Safety commissioner.
Similarly, footage went viral of a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a live-streamed sermon at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, with voice notes and Whatsapp messages inflaming the riots.
Footage went viral of a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a live-streamed sermon at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church
The eSafety Commission is run by former Twitter Director of Public Policy, Australia & SE Asia, Julie Inman Grant (pictured)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been highly critical of social media platforms for failing to act quick enough to protect users from the violent content.
‘It shouldn’t need the eSafety commissioner to intervene to direct companies, in this case X and [Facebook owner] Meta, to take down violent videos that show people who have lost their lives as result of what occurred with the perpetrator committing that atrocity on Saturday,’ he said.
‘Social media makes all of us publishers of content, we all have a responsibility.’
The PM warned he is ‘prepared to take whatever action is necessary to haul these companies into line’.
‘We’ve made that very clear because of the damage that a failure to act can have.’
Mr Albanese said onlookers who took the video, and others who later received that footage, should have sent it to police in order to assist in the investigation, rather than posting it online.
The eSafety Commission lauds itself as the ‘first government agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online’.
It is run by former Twitter Director of Public Policy, Australia & SE Asia, Julie Inman Grant, who receives an annual salary of almost $445,000.
Almost 500 civil servants are employed by the eSafety Commissioner and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, according to its latest annual report.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been highly critical of social media platforms for failing to act quick enough to protect users from the violent content