Australia has dropped a legal battle to remove images of a Sydney church stabbing from Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Police declared the attack on Bishop Mar-Marie Emmanuel in April a terrorist incident, which was broadcast live online and led to riots outside the church.
Independent regulator Australia’s Electronic Safety Commissioner threatened X and other social media companies with hefty fines if they did not remove the stabbing video, fearing it could incite further violence.
The case is seen as a test of Australia’s ability to enforce online safety rules against social media giants.
A federal court temporarily ordered X to hide the videos, but it refused to comply, saying the order was invalid.
X (formerly Twitter) did eventually block access to the video in Australia, but users could easily bypass the issue by using a VPN.
Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant, who herself once worked at Twitter, called for the video to be removed globally, prompting Musk to call her a “censorship commissioner.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Musk an “arrogant billionaire”.
Inman-Grant said in a statement on Wednesday that dropping the case “is likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children” due to “multiple considerations”.
“Our sole aim and focus in issuing the takedown notice was to prevent this extremely violent video from going viral, potentially inciting further violence and causing further harm to the Australian community,” she said.
She added that she supported the decision taken by the electronic safety committee.
X had previously argued that the commission’s order was “unlawful and dangerous”.
“Global takedown orders violate the principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere,” the company said in a statement.
“This was a tragic incident and we will not allow people to praise it or call for further violence,” the statement added.
Ms Inman-Grant previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Musk’s attention had led to an onslaught of comments from his millions of fans, including death threats and the exposure of her children’s personal information online.
