MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge on Monday ruled that social media platform X must block every user in the world from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church, extending the prohibition beyond users in Australia.
X Corp., the tech company rebranded by billionaire Elon Musk when he bought Twitter last year, announced last week it would fight in court Australian orders to take down posts relating to a knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox church as a service was being streamed online on April 15.
The material was geoblocked from Australia but remained available elsewhere.
But the regulator that made the orders, Australia’s eSafety Commission, which describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online, successfully applied to the Federal Court in Sydney for a temporary global ban on the sharing of video of the bishop being stabbed.
In an after-hours hearing, Justice Geoffrey Kennett suppressed the footage from all X users until Wednesday, when an application for a permanent ban will be heard.
X has 24 hours to “hide” the footage from users, the judge ruled.
The regulator's lawyer, Stephen Tran, had argued that geoblocking Australia did not meet the definition of “removal” of the footage under Australian law.
Tran said the footage was a “graphic and violent video” that would cause “irreparable harm if it's continuing to circulate."
X's lawyer Marcus Hoyne said he had been unable to get instructions from his San Francisco-based client because it was early Sunday morning in the United States.
Musk has described eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant as the “Australian censorship commissar."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had earlier criticized X for refusing to remove graphic posts about the knife attack on a bishop and priest at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church.
Albanese said social media posts, misinformation and dissemination of violent images had exacerbated suffering from the church attack, which the two clerics survived, as well as a knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall two days earlier which killed six people.
“Social media has a social responsibility,” Albanese said. “I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and are trying to argue their case.”
The platform’s Global Government Affairs team said on Saturday Inman Grant had ordered it to remove some posts that commented on the church attack, but it said the posts did not violate X’s rules on violent speech.
X said the Australian regulator had demanded the platform “globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000.”
“X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge,” the Global Government Affairs account said.
“While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X’s users can see globally,” it said.
“We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court,” it added.
The live feed of the church attack and social media posts that followed attracted a crowd of 2,000 people and fueled a riot against police, who barricaded the young suspected attacker inside the place of worship.
The rioting injured 51 police officers and damaged 104 police vehicles, officials said.
Three alleged rioters had been arrested by Sunday and police on Monday released images of 12 suspects they accuse of being the main instigators of the violence, taken from video of the riot.
A 16-year-old boy accused of the stabbings has been charged with terrorism offenses. He has received online condemnation and praise for the attack.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese carries a candle during a candlelight vigil at Sydney's Bondi Beach to remember victims of a knife attack at a nearby shopping mall, Australia, Sunday, April 21, 2024. An assailant was shot and killed by a police officer on April 13, after he stabbed six people to death and wounded more than a dozen others in an attack that police believe targeted women. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
CHICAGO (AP) — Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes combined on a four-hitter, and the New York Yankees clinched their 32nd straight winning season by blanking the Chicago Cubs 2-0 on Saturday.
Schmidt pitched 4 2/3 innings of four-hit ball in his first big league game since May 26. Cortes (9-10) closed it out in his first relief appearance since 2021.
Coupled with Baltimore's 7-1 loss to Tampa Bay, New York moved back into first in the AL East. The Yankees (82-60) lead the Orioles by a half-game.
Cortes admitted he was upset when he learned he was going to pitch in relief.
“I’m never going to back down from a challenge,” Cortes said. “I’m never going to leave my teammates out to dry. You’re always going to get my best effort no matter if I’m happy or not. That’s what I did today. I came out there and proved I can be put in any situation. From here on out, if that’s my role, I’ll accept it.”
Schmidt had been sidelined by a right lat strain. He threw 75 pitches, 44 for strikes.
"I felt like I still had a lot of strength and I wasn’t fatiguing at all,” Schmidt said.
New York posted its second straight shutout to secure its first series win since it took two of three against Colorado from Aug. 23-25. The 32 straight seasons with a winning record is the second-longest such period in major league history, trailing a run of 39 consecutive seasons for the Yankees from 1926-64.
Chicago (72-70) has lost four of five on a crucial homestand as it tries to rally in the race for the third NL wild card. It beat Pittsburgh 12-0 on Wednesday, but it has managed a total of three other runs in its last five games, getting shut out three times.
“We feel like we have a good enough ballclub to be in the playoffs and in the picture, but we’re going to have to play a little bit better and keep pushing here,” left fielder Ian Happ said.
Cubs right-hander Javier Assad (7-5) allowed one earned run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
New York scored its first run when Austin Wells drove in Gleyber Torres with a groundout in the first. The Yankees made it 2-0 in the sixth when Aaron Judge swiped third as part of a double steal and scampered home on catcher Christian Bethancourt’s throwing error.
Judge, who leads the majors with 51 homers, went 0 for 3 with a walk. He hasn’t homered in 11 games in his longest streak of the season.
The Cubs had their best scoring opportunity in the fifth. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled with one out, but was caught stealing. Patrick Wisdom then tripled to right, but he was stranded when Cortes got Bethancourt to foul out.
“He handled it really well, came into a high-leverage situation with a runner on third and got the job done,” Wells said of Cortes. “From there, cruised.”
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo heard more cheers in his second game back at Wrigley Field since he was traded by Chicago to New York in July 2021. He tipped his cap before his first at-bat and reached second on Crow-Armstrong’s dropped catch in center.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Schmidt and RHP Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) were reinstated from the 60-day injured list before the game. RHPs Phil Bickford and Nick Burdi were designated for assignment.
Cubs: LHP Justin Steele (left elbow tendinitis) was scheduled to play catch Saturday. He went on the 15-day IL on Wednesday. ... RHP Hayden Wesneski (right forearm strain) threw an inning at Triple-A Iowa.
UP NEXT
RHP Gerrit Cole (6-3, 3.65 ERA) is slated to start for New York on Sunday on his 34th birthday. RHP Jameson Taillon (9-8, 3.66 ERA) takes the mound for Chicago in the finale of the weekend set. Taillon went 22-11 with a 4.08 ERA with the Yankees in 2021 and 2022.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt reacts in the dugout after being pulled during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton, right, celebrates with teammate Gleyber Torres (25) after Torres scored on an Austin Wells ground out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Chicago Cubs starter Javier Assad delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates with teammates in the dugout after scoring on a throwing error by the catcher during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
New York Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
