Social media platform X has pledged to fight Australia’s online safety watchdog over posts about a .
The platform’s Global Government Affairs team on Saturday said Australia’s eSafety Commissioner had ordered it to remove posts that commented on the attack.
But they said the posts did not violate X’s rules on violent speech.
The team claimed the regulator demanded X “globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000”.
“X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge,” the Global Government Affairs team posted on Saturday.
“While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X’s users can see globally.
“We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court.”
The commissioner has only said it was considering whether further regulatory action was warranted, after it put social media platforms on notice to remove graphic content showing recent violence in Sydney.
Calls have grown for harsher sanctions for social media platforms in the wake of the after distressing footage of the attack was uploaded online and misinformation spread.
“We will take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with these notices,” the watchdog said in a statement on Friday.
“In relation to X Corp, eSafety is working to ensure the company’s full and complete compliance with Australian law.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns blasted X on Saturday and said it was about time penalties for social media companies were strengthened.
“This is exactly as I’d expect from X, or Twitter, or whatever you want to call it – a disregard for the information that they pump into our communities, lies and rumours spreading like wildfire,” Mr Minns told reporters.
“Then when things go wrong, throwing their hands up in the air to say that they’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
Tyler Mitchell