eSafety commissioner Julie Inman-Grant drops case against Elon Musk's X over church attack

Australia's internet watchdog has abandoned legal proceedings against Elon Musk's X to have footage of a bishop being stabbed taken down from the platform internationally.

The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, announced on Wednesday that she would be dropping the Class 1 removal notice after a failed attempt to force X to hide the footage until the court case was resolved.

'Today I have decided to consolidate action concerning my Class 1 removal notice to X Corp in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal,' she said in a statement.

'After weighing multiple considerations, including litigation across multiple cases, I have considered this option likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children.

'As a result, I have decided to discontinue the proceedings in the Federal Court against X Corp.'

Ms Inman-Grant brought the legal battle to Mr Musk and X after clips of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed during a live-streamed sermon on April 15 remained on the platform for Australian users to see.

The platform removed the footage from the site within Australia under a bannign order, but refused to take down the footage for it's global audience after an order from the Federal Court, arguing that the bid violates the principle of free speech.

Mr Musk continued to hammer on the point as he took aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on X and described Ms Inman-Grant as the 'censorship commissar'. 

The commissioner said other major tech companies such as Meta, TikTok and Google and complied with the removal request.

'This is because the video violated their terms of service and their standards of decency,' Ms Inman-Grant wrote.

'So, it was a reasonable expectation when we made our request to remove extremely graphic video of an attack, that X Corp would take action in line with these publicly stated policies and practices.'

The legal battle with billionaire Mr Musk was also an 'opportunity to test (eSafety's) novel regulatory powers', according to the commissioner.

Despite the backdown, she fired a warning shot to other tech companies, adding that eSafety hold them to account with the 'full range of provisions available ... without fear or favour'. 

'We will not waver from this commitment.'