Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner has announced it has dropped its federal suit against the social media platform X, just weeks after the Federal Court refused to extend a temporary order for it to hide graphic videos of a Sydney church stabbing.

In a statement, e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant defended her decision to pursue a case against X, formerly known as Twitter, explaining, “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.”

X’s Global Government Affairs team welcomed the news, saying the 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.”

Inman Grant said her focus has now shifted to an upcoming review.

“We now welcome the opportunity for a thorough and independent merits review of my decision to issue a removal notice to X Corp by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal,” she added.

Musk wins the battle

The announcement marks the latest update in an ongoing feud between the e-Safety Commissioner and X over footage of the violent Sydney attack.

On April 16, 2024, Inman Grant asked X to remove posts containing the video, which showed Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanual being attacked with a knife mid-way through a service.

X refused to comply with the take-down order, and only restricted the posts geographically.

The Commissioner hit back with a temporary injunction on 22 April, intended to force the platform to block posts containing the footage, which was largely ignored.

Billionaire X CEO Elon Musk took aim at Inman Grant in a post, stating, “Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian ‘eSafety Commissar’ is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?”

The Commissioner told the ABC that Musk's tweets were a 'dog whistle' to his followers, who sent her death threats and doxxed members of her family, including her three children.

The escalating dispute caused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to weigh in, calling Musk an 'arrogant billionaire'.

The injunction expired last month after a judge denied an extension application.

War isn’t over as X’s safety slides

The e-Safety Commissioner maintains the requests made of X were reasonable and in line with the company’s publicly stated standards and policies.

“eSafety remains committed to exercising the full range of provisions available under the Online Safety Act to hold all tech companies to account without fear or favour,“ said Inman Grant.

This is just the latest in a series of high-profile disputes between the social media platform and Australian lawmakers since Musk’s takeover in October last year.

Since then, the company has dramatically reduced safety and moderation staff, leading to a deluge of misinformation and false claims.

Last year, X copped a $600,000 fine for failing to disclose its methods for tackling child abuse material on its platform.

In November, the platform was also removed as a signatory of DIGI’s Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation after removing a tool that allowed users to report false or misleading posts.

In April this year, X announced its intention to sue the Australian government over a request to remove posts made by a Canadian anti-trans campaigner.