X claims partial victory after Australian eSafety commissioner drops lawsuit over video of violent attack on Christian bishop

The social media platform owned by tech titan Elon Musk and now known as X is celebrating a decision from the Australian eSafety commissioner to drop a lawsuit in connection with a violent attack on a Christian bishop earlier this year.

'My prophet': A religiously motivated attack on a Christian bishop

Back in April, Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 53, was livestreaming a service held at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, just outside Sydney, when a young man suddenly ran to the altar and stabbed Bishop Emmanuel and Fr. Isaac Royel, as Blaze News previously reported.

The suspected assailant, a 16-year-old boy, appeared to be motivated by Islamic extremism, as Bishop Emmanuel has previously criticized the Islamic religion.

"If [Bishop Emmanuel] didn't get himself involved in my religion, if he hadn't spoken about my prophet, I wouldn't have come here. … If he just spoke about his own religion, I wouldn’t have come," the suspect said during the attack, according to the livestream video.

Though the violent stabbing cost the bishop an eye, he has since forgiven his attacker and called him to Christian conversion: "This young man who did this act almost two weeks ago, I say to you, my dear, you are my son and you will always be my son. I will always pray for you. I will always wish you nothing but the best. I pray that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to enlighten your heart, enlighten your soul, your entire being — to realize there is only one God who art in heaven. ... That God is Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

'Threaten free speech everywhere': X refuses to censor video

Thanks to the wonders of social media, a video of the brutal attack quickly went viral around the globe — much to the chagrin of Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, a woke American previously affiliated with Big Tech. Grant demanded that X remove the video "to protect Australians from" exposure to "this most extreme and gratuitous violent material."

The platform partially complied at first, censoring it in Australia. But when Grant and other Australian officials called for it to be suppressed across the globe, X stood firm.

"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. ... Global takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere," said a statement from X's Global Government Affairs team.

Grant pressed on, filing a lawsuit in Australian federal court with a hearing scheduled for late June. However, the suit seemed doomed to fail after a judge denied Grant's request for an injunction against the video while the legal process continued.

'Welcome ... news': Commissioner retreats, drops lawsuit

On Wednesday, Grant announced that she was dropping the federal lawsuit altogether, preferring instead to focus on a separate case involving X. "Our sole goal and focus in issuing our removal notice was to prevent this extremely violent footage from going viral, potentially inciting further violence and inflicting more harm on the Australian community. I stand by my investigators and the decisions eSafety made," she said in a lengthy statement.

'He issued a dog whistle to 181 million users around the globe, which resulted in ... doxxing of my family members, including my three children.'

She also insisted that censoring the video was the right call and praised the platforms that did so, including Meta, Reddit, and TikTok. She then expressed disappointment that X didn't follow suit. "So it was a reasonable expectation when we made our request to remove extremely graphic video of an attack, that X Corp would take action in line with these publicly stated policies and practices," the statement continued.

She even hinted that the decision may have partially resulted from safety concerns, claiming in an interview that Elon Musk's recent comments about the issue have endangered her and her family.

"He issued a dog whistle to 181 million users around the globe, which resulted in death threats directed at me, which resulted in doxxing of my family members, including my three children," she said.

Apparently unfazed by the personal allegations, Musk has since reaffirmed his commitment to keep his platform free. "Freedom of speech is worth fighting for," he tweeted in connection with the story.

X's global leadership team likewise cheered Grant's decision to drop the lawsuit. "We welcome the news that the eSafety Commissioner is no longer pursuing legal action against X seeking the global removal of content that does not violate X’s rules," said X's Global Government Affairs division.

"This case has raised important questions on how legal powers can be used to threaten global censorship of speech, and we are heartened to see that freedom of speech has prevailed."

X filed a lawsuit in Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal seeking clarity on whether Grant was in the right to classify the stabbing video as a "class 1" example of "extreme violence material." Grant claims a ruling on the matter from the AAT will provide her with "operational certainty."

The AAT is expected to hear that case sometime next month.

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