Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has dropped its Federal Court case against X relating to tweets distributing the footage of the Wakeley church stabbing.
In response to the decision, X’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, tweeted “freedom of speech is worth fighting for”.
This case goes to a central question about the operation of Australia’s Online Safety Act and the powers of the regulator to remove harmful content.
It will no doubt be viewed with interest by other online safety regulators across the world who are also grappling with these issues. That is, how can governments control the distribution of harmful online material within a country when the internet is global? Do global takedowns unfairly limit free speech? Does “geo-blocking” strike an acceptable balance between restricting harmful content and free speech?
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