Elon Musk’s platform X refused to take down a violent video which was viewed by Axel Rudakubana minutes before he murdered three girls.
The eSafety commission confirmed "with great sadness” that Rudakubana viewed a video of the attempted murder of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, which took place in Sydney in April, 2024, right before carrying out an attack of his own.
The commission worked with multiple other platforms to have the video removed quickly, including Google, Microsoft, Snapchat and TikTok and while most complied X did not, only banning it in Australia.
Rudakubana then watched the video, in England, before carrying out a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, leaving three girls aged 6, 7 and 9 dead.
The 18-year-old has since been charged with a minimum sentence of 52 years.
The eSafety commission said that in asking platforms to remove the video they were looking to protect the community from material “that may severely traumatise, manipulate or radicalise vulnerable people”.
“To be clear, the material in question was violent video of an attempted murder deemed an act of terror by the NSW Police Commissioner; not commentary, public debate or other posts about this event,” it wrote in a statement.