Elon Musk is dealt a major blow in his battle against Australia’s censorship tsar over footage of the Sydney church stabbing

An Australian court has ordered billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform to prevent any user from seeing violent images linked to a stabbing at a Sydney church, not just to the Australian public.

Amid political unity against X Corp’s defiant stance to keep potentially harmful content online, the country’s internet cop took the case to the Federal Court on Monday evening.

At a hastily arranged hearing, a lawyer for the eSafety Commissioner said the “explicit and violent” video remained online on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It would cause “irreparable harm” if allowed to continue circulating, attorney Christopher Tran said.

The commissioner ordered the footage removed, but X’s response was to block the video from Australian IP addresses, the court was told.

The commissioner ordered the footage of the Sydney church stabbing (pictured) be removed, but X’s response was to block the video from Australian IP addresses, the court was told.

This made it accessible to international users or Australians using an overseas-based virtual private network.

“That was a choice, they could have done more,” Christopher Tran said.

X should at least protect the images from all users, not just Australians, he said.

Ahead of a discussion about the right to free speech in the United States, Mr. Tran said it appeared that this right did not extend to depictions of violence.

Mr Musk had labeled the eSafety commissioner as the “Australian censorship commissioner” as his company raised concerns about freedom of expression and jurisdiction over the takedown order.

X also labeled the internet agent’s action as an ‘illegal and dangerous approach’.

Marcus Hoyne, appearing on behalf of X Corp, urged the court to adjourn the case until he could seek “sensible and proper instructions” from his San Francisco client.

Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant told reporters last week that while the majority of mainstream social media platforms had engaged with the commissioner over his order to remove videos of the alleged church stabbing, more work needed to be done done.

The eSafety commissioner’s court request was served at the last possible moment, he said.

Granting the order would impact international users “in circumstances where it has no impact on Australia”, he said.

However, his appeal failed.

Judge Geoffrey Kennett granted the requested interim injunction and suppressed the images for all users on X until at least Wednesday afternoon.

The case returns to court on Wednesday for an argument on permanent suppression.

Previously, politicians offered free character assessments of Mr Musk as the federal government and opposition united behind efforts to remove graphic content from X.

Tanya Plibersek called him a “selfish billionaire”, Sarah Hanson-Young called him a “narcissistic cowboy”, while Simon Birmingham attacked X’s “ridiculous and ridiculous argument” that footage of a terrorist attack should be removed online to stay.