Australia's online safety regulator has expressed 'great sadness' after it emerged that Axel Rudakubana, the teenager who murdered three girls in Southport, had searched for a video of a Sydney church stabbing on social media shortly before the attack.
The eSafety commissioner issued a statement on Friday noting the 'clear link' between extreme graphic violent material and real-world violence, following revelations that Rudakubana viewed the video of the April 2024 attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel six minutes before leaving home.
The video had been at the centre of a legal dispute between eSafety and X, after the regulator ordered the platform to remove 65 posts containing the footage under Australia's Online Safety Act. While Google, Microsoft, Snap and TikTok complied with informal requests, X only geo-blocked the content for Australian users, leaving it accessible via VPN.
eSafety took X to court, but both cases were eventually dropped. X declared 'free speech has prevailed', while Bishop Emmanuel himself provided an affidavit arguing the video should remain online.
The regulator said it looks forward to the Australian government's response to a review of the Online Safety Act, which may help resolve legal and jurisdictional issues raised by the case.
