An Australian judge has ruled that social media platform X must block every user worldwide from accessing the video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church. This extends the prohibition beyond users in Australia.

On Monday, an Australian judge ruled that social media platform X must prevent users worldwide from accessing footage of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church, expanding the ban beyond just Australian users.

X Corp., the tech company led by billionaire Elon Musk after his acquisition of Twitter last year, had previously announced its intention to challenge Australian orders demanding the removal of posts related to the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox church, which occurred during an online service on April 15.

Although the material had been geoblocked in Australia, it remained accessible elsewhere. However, Australia’s eSafety Commission, the regulatory body responsible for the orders, successfully petitioned the Federal Court in Sydney for a temporary global ban on the dissemination of the video depicting the bishop being stabbed.

During an after-hours session, Justice Geoffrey Kennett ordered that the footage be suppressed for all X users until Wednesday, when a hearing for a permanent ban will take place.

The judge ruled that X has 24 hours to "hide" the footage from users.

The regulator's lawyer, Stephen Tran, argued that geoblocking Australia did not meet the legal definition of "removal" of the footage under Australian law. He emphasized that the graphic and violent nature of the video could cause irreparable harm if it continued to circulate.

X's lawyer, Marcus Hoyne, stated that he was unable to obtain instructions from his client, based in San Francisco, as it was early Monday morning in the United States.

Elon Musk has referred to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant as the "Australian censorship commissar."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had previously criticized X for its refusal to remove graphic posts concerning the knife attack on a bishop and priest at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church.

Albanese pointed out that social media posts, misinformation, and the dissemination of violent images had exacerbated the suffering caused by the church attack, from which the two clerics survived, as well as a separate knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall two days earlier that resulted in the deaths of six people.

"Social media has a social responsibility," Albanese emphasized. "I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and is attempting to argue its case."

X's Global Government Affairs team stated that eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant had instructed them to remove some posts related to the church attack, but X argued that these posts did not violate its rules on violent speech.

X further explained that 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," stated the Global Government Affairs account.

"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 added.

"We will robustly challenge this unlawful and dangerous approach in court," the statement concluded.

The live feed of the church attack and subsequent social media posts attracted a crowd of 2,000 people and fueled a riot against police, who barricaded the young suspected attacker inside the place of worship.

Officials reported that the rioting resulted in 51 injured police officers and damage to 104 police vehicles.

By Sunday, authorities had arrested three alleged rioters. On Monday, police released images of 12 suspects they believe were the primary instigators of the violence, obtained from video footage of the riot.

A 16-year-old boy accused of the stabbings has been charged with terrorism offenses. He has received both online condemnation and praise for the attack.