Judge says eSafety's global content ban order 'not reasonable'
A brief update on the judge's decision in the eSafety vs X matter
Yesterday, I reported that the Australian Federal Court had denied the eSafety Commissioner’s request to extend an injunction forcing X to enact a global ban on footage of the Wakeley stabbing.
This morning, Justice Kennett’s decision has been published in full.
In short, Justice Kennett determined that X took "reasonable" steps to block the stabbing content as required under Australian law, and that eSafety's request for a global ban was not reasonable.
Justice Kennett acknowledged that, “…there is widespread alarm at the prospect of a decision by an official of a national government restricting access to controversial material on the internet by people all over the world.”
And that, "The potential consequences for orderly and amicable relations between nations, if a notice with the breadth contended for were enforced, are obvious. Most likely, the notice would be ignored or disparaged in other countries."
Therefore, Justice Kennett concluded that eSafety is unlikely to win a permanent injunction in this matter, concluding that “there is a not a prima facie case for the grant of a final injunction in the terms sought.”
The matter will return to Court for a case management hearing on Wednesday, 15 May.
Read yesterday’s report:
Elon Musk wins latest censorship battle against Australia's eSafety
Can Australia’s eSafety Commissioner block content globally on demand? Not today, ruled the Australian Federal Court, in a win for Elon Musk’s social media platform X. In a decision this morning, Justice Geoffrey Kennett refused to extend a temporary injunction
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Thanks Rebekah. It would be astonishing if an Australian bureaucrat (or, indeed, any bureaucrat anywhere) could legally control the global Internet, with massive implications, so I'm pleased to see this sensible decision. It will be interesting to see how Australian media deal with this, after labelling Musk as the bad guy, in some cases spectacularly.
e Safety is a pretentious manufactured job for public servants to obtain more channels to work through but achieves nothing for the country Australians are not fools unable to decide for themselves or recognise good bad truthful evil or otherwise with whatever is placed before them This outcry from public servant was pathetic lapse overloaded with self confidence executed by person overfull of self confidence