Social media giant X (formerly known as Twitter) has claimed it could face daily fines of $785,000 if it does not take down content that references the stabbing of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel.
Following the attack on Monday night, politicians from across the country repeatedly called on social media companies to take down any content that risked further inflaming rising tensions.
The office of the eSafety commissioner said it had "engaged" with major social media platforms in relation to the resharing and reposting of class one content that depicted "recent violence" in Sydney.
Class one content is defined as promoting, inciting or instructing in matters of crime or violence and is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult.
In a statement issued on Friday, eSafety said it expected platforms to make "genuine efforts" to protect Australians from harmful content.
"eSafety is aware social media users continue to upload and reshare distressing content and appreciates it is challenging for platforms to manage this," the statement said.
"We are also aware some platforms are responding by applying technological solutions to prevent or reduce proliferation … eSafety welcomes these actions."
In a statement, X said it had received a "demand" from the eSafety commissioner to take the posts down or face a daily fine of $785,000.
"The Australian eSafety commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop. These posts did not violate X's rules on violent speech," the statement said.
The content that the eSafety commissioner wants removed is classified as class one content that relates to extreme violent images and videos.
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However, X indicated it would not comply with the request and would take the matter to court.
"X believes that eSafety's order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge.
"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.
"Global takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere."
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Political leaders up for a fight
Federal government minister Mark Butler said Australia would not back down from the demands issued by the eSafety Commissioner.
"Australia is not going to be bullied by Elon Musk or any other tech billionaire in our commitment to making sure social media is a safe space," he said.
"If he [Elon Musk] wants to fight that fine in court, we are up for that fight."
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he was shocked but not surprised by X's response.
"This is exactly as I would expect from X … a disregard for information they pump into our communities.
"Lies and rumours spreading like wildfire and then when things go wrong, throwing their hands up in the air to say they are not prepared to do anything about it.
"We have had enough … to think about young police officers who have to go into harm's way to calm down a riot based on a rumour or innuendo means their job is next to impossible for them."
The owner of X, Elon Musk, used his platform to call the eSafety commissioner "the Australian censorship commissar."
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The Office of the eSafety Commissioner said on Friday it was considering whether further regulatory action was warranted, but it has not publicly discussed the possibility of fines.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government's expectation was that social media companies should remove the content immediately.
"If you operate in Australia, you should comply with the law. It's as simple as that," she said in a statement.
"Our clear message to Australians is please do not share or engage with this content. It is distressing and may very well cause harm to vulnerable Australians — including children."
On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said social media companies had a responsibility to protect the community.
"It shouldn't need the eSafety commissioner to intervene, to direct companies, in this case X and Meta, to take down violent videos," he said.
"We are prepared to take whatever action is necessary to haul these companies into line. We've made that very clear because of the damage that a failure to act can have."
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