In a significant legal reversal, a national review panel has overturned a earlier ruling that blocked viewers in Australia from seeing video footage of the shooting incident involving influencer Charlie Kirk. This challenge was initiated by Elon Musk's company X, which contested an directive issued at the request of the national eSafety commissioner.
Following the death of Charlie Kirk at a US campus in last year, the regulator applied to the classification board to officially classify the available footage. The board initially ruled the content was "unable to be classified", a rating that empowered the commissioner to order social media companies to geo-block the posts for users in Australia.
Elon Musk's company challenged the decision for a pair of videos related to the Kirk incident. Additionally, it contested a similar ruling on another piece of footage—depicting the attack on Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train—which had likewise been deemed "unacceptable for distribution".
Arguing its case, X contended that the footage in question contained only brief violence with the weapon not shown. It was argued the recording was low-quality and the camera quickly panned away from the victim to the bystanders.
The social media giant argued the video was not overly graphic, gratuitous, or objectionable, adding that it served as a neutral objective record of "a notorious public event of historical and political significance that generated extensive public discourse". The platform drew a parallel between the footage and the well-known recording of the JFK shooting.
Most members of the review board concluded that, "notwithstanding the heinous nature of the event," the video did not reach a level that was exploitative, gratuitous, or offensive enough to warrant a 'refused classification' rating. The board suggested that a more detailed depiction with different editing could have met that threshold. As a result, the panel revised the classification of the content to R18+.
A minority on the panel disagreed, contending the post was "content designed for sharing for the likely purposes of amusement and/or personal gain (such as likes, shares, or views)". This view stated the parallel with the JFK assassination tape was invalid, as the Kennedy video was released years after the assassination, "once emotions around the matter had calmed".
In a statement on its global government affairs account, the platform welcomed the decision.
"We challenged this case to defend free speech and the importance of access to information about issues of public interest. We remain dedicated to safeguarding these fundamental values."
A spokesperson for the eSafety commissioner also welcomed the ruling, but noted that the revised classification now means platforms "must take steps to ensure R18+ material is not accessible to Australians under 18".
In related news, the eSafety commissioner did not issue formal notices to social media companies this week regarding disturbing videos from the recent Bondi beach terror attack shared across social media. The regulator stated that while the content were upsetting, they did not reach the high threshold for a "total ban" rating.
As an alternative, the companies have been instructed to apply sensitive content labels and screens, such as obscuring the image, on such content in accordance with their own content policies.
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
