X refuses to remove stabbing video seen by Southport Killer

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Elon Musk’s X social media platform has refused to remove a video that Axel Rudakubana watched minutes before murdering three young children, despite numerous requests from authorities in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Australian internet regulator Esafety said on Friday it noted with “great sadness” that the video, showing the violent stabbing of a bishop in Sydney in April, was viewed by the killer on X despite the regulator having requested the material. from being removed from The Platform for months before the attack in Southport last summer.

Immediately following the Australian attack, companies such as Google, Microsoft, Snap and Tiktok “acted quickly to cooperate with ESAFETY and ensure that the Wakeley Stabbing video cannot be accessed from their platforms. Some of these companies took additional, proactive steps to reduce a further spread of the material,” the regulator said. “X Corp decided not to remove the video from its platform.”

Video footage of a bishop’s stabbing at a church in western Sydney circulated online in April, but X only geoblocked the footage in Australia, meaning people in other parts of the world and local VPN users could continue watching the violent attack.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said this week that the government was contacting X directly to ask him to remove the video from the platform. “Companies should not profit from content that puts children’s lives at risk,” he told the House of Commons.

Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 52 years in prison on Thursday after admitting the murder of three youths at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

Musk tweeted repeatedly in the wake of the murders, accusing UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of “prioritizing mosques over British girls in his dance classes.” Musk also amplified tweets by far-right agitator Tommy Robinson who claimed that “Muslims were running through the streets with no response from the police, attacking any non-Muslims.” The interventions led to accusations that he was inflaming tensions that led to riots in British towns and cities last summer.

On Friday, Musk shared an article about the Southport murders, saying “Never forget.”

But he has so far refused to intervene to force his company to remove the video Rudakubana watched, and the video is still circulating on X as of Friday afternoon.

The Financial Times contacted X to ask why it had not removed the video, but did not receive a response.

The court in Rudakubana’s case heard this week that a search of a Lenovo tablet found in his home showed he had deleted the entire history of his browser apart from a search on the day of the attack. Six minutes before he left to carry out the murders, he had searched for X “Mar Mari Emmanuel Stabbing”.

When police conducted the same search for X during their investigation, they discovered it led to posts containing footage of the Sydney attack three months earlier.

Prosecutors also outlined Rudakubana’s online profiles and social media handles in court, including his account been withdrawn.

The Australian regulator sought to take legal action to try to force X to comply with a decision to completely remove the video in April, a move that divided the country over whether the government was suppressing free speech or was right to protect users of social networks of harm. and violent content.

Musk criticized the decision, accusing the ESAFETY “commissioner” of trying to censor the Internet.

That sparked a furious reaction from the country’s politicians, including Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, who said it was “distressing” that X was fighting the order to remove the video and criticized the billionaire’s stance.

However, a court chose not to extend an injunction on the video being shown on the basis that X had taken “reasonable steps” to stop the video being shown in Australia. The case had been seen as a possible test case for whether local regulations could be applied globally.

The ESAFETY commissioner withdrew his case in June pending a review of Australia’s online safety laws.

Additional reporting by Hannah Murphy