The Australian Government versus Free Speech and Elon Musk.
Courtney Gold at The Australian.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says she wants social media companies to be subject to more regulation as a bitter fight to remove the violent footage of the Sydney church stabbing wages on. …
Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant ordered X and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to remove footage of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley last week.
This is what you are not allowed to see — Islamic terror in action (45,138 deadly terror attacks since 9/11, but this one doesn’t count because no one was killed):
The Australian Government demands global censorship:
Musk’s X objected, vowing to fight the order, claiming restricting the visibility of the footage — or geoblocking — to people in Australia was sufficient.
But in a late Monday night court hearing, lawyers for the eSafety commissioner argued that geoblocking did not go far enough to comply with the Online Safety Act — given Australians using a VPN could still see it. …
Elon Musk weighs in on the side of free speech:
Meanwhile, in a series of posts overnight, Mr Musk mocked Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, who removed herself from the platform in the wake of the saga. She deleted her X account after lashing Mr Musk as a “friggin’ disgrace” who “should be jailed”.
Mr Musk sensationally labelled her “an enemy of the people of Australia” and “this woman has utter contempt for the Australian people”.
In another, the tech boss replied to a clip of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticising Mr Musk’s refusal to remove the content from the platform.
“X is the only one standing up for the rights of Australians,” Mr Musk wrote.
The idea of banning something if it is distressing, violent, or might lead to social unrest is exactly the same argument given by the Chinese communist regime when they erased Tiananmen Square from history. …
We can sit here all day and give examples of why censoring the news is wrong — or we can simply point out the hypocrisy and double standards of those who seek to silence us.
Who believes, for one moment, that the e-Safety Commissioner and the Albanese government would dare to issue a censorship order to Twitter regarding the footage of George Floyd’s arrest? They wouldn’t, because the progressive left would take to the streets and tear Parliament apart.
What about telling Twitter to remove all footage of Gaza? They won’t do this either because the pro-Hamas supporters who have suffocated our cities with their Islamic antisemitism and anti-Western hatred would threaten the Albanese regime and ruin his re-election chances.
Here’s one for Mr Dutton. Why wasn’t the footage of the destruction of the Captain Cook memorial been taken down when those involved threatened to start a race war against the Australian people? The political class has buried this content. They haven’t made a single arrest. They did not keep us safe. Instead of issuing content removal fines, perhaps they could try arresting the criminals behind the footage…
Criminalising social media companies for showing the reality of our world is stain on Australia’s reputation. …
And so leftwing, progressive content — no matter how violent, no matter how distressing — will never be taken down by Australia’s Ministry of Censorship. …
Mr Dutton is a fool to support Labor on their censorial binge. Knowing this about his character makes him wholly and forever unsuitable as a future Prime Minister. Australia does not need a policeman in charge of a police state. [Mr Dutton is an ex-Queensland-cop]
Bottom line: If you are in Australia then the Australian Government wants to prevent you from being able to see the Muslim terrorist stab the Christian priest, or hear what he says while doing it, because this type of politics-in-action does not help the Australian left.
We are safer knowing what goes on, in my opinion. So lift the censorship, Mr Albanese. Those who don’t want to see can look away.
