Platform X Akan Tatang Perintah Penghapusan Postingan Terkait Penusukan Bishop Di Sydney

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel (photo: x @Bishopmurmuri)

JAKARTA - Social media platform X announced on Saturday April 20 that it would legally challenge an order from Australian regulators demanding the company remove some posts related to the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney.

Police accused a 16-year-old teenager of terrorism on Thursday 18 April for allegedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a church in the capital New South Wales on Monday 15 April. Footages from the scene showed the teenager was bound by the congregation and shouted that Emmanuel had abused Islam.

On Saturday, Global Government Affairs X announced that Australian eSafety Commissioners had ordered them "to delete several posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack on a Christian Bishop".

The regulator asked X to "hold" the post or face a daily fine of USD 785,000 (IDR 8.1 billion), without providing details on the post in question.

"X believes that eSafety orders are not within the scope of Australian law and we comply with those directives while challenging them legally," X said.

"ESafety commissioners have no authority to determine what content X users can see globally," X said. "We will challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach firmly in court."

Asked about X's comments, the agency's spokesman quoted Commissioner eSafety's statement that they were trying to ensure X's compliance with Australian law. "We are considering whether further regulatory action is needed," the regulator said.

Regulators, a government agency that works to remove harmful online content, sent legal documents in March to social media platforms including X, demanding information about their efforts to eradicate terrorist content.

Emmanuel, bishop at the Christian Church Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd, is a social media star with followers around the world but also a controversial critic. He has made scathing criticisms of homosexuality, COVID, Islam, and US President Joe Biden's election.