What Elon Musk's censorship fight with Australia means for the internet and free speech

The Australian government has found themselves in a battle with billionaire Elon Musk and his legions of supporters.  

Australia’s eSafety commissioner last week ordered Musk’s social media platform X – formerly known as Twitter – to remove images of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, which was captured on a live stream earlier this month. 

X only blocked the images to Australian users, prompting a further legal challenge that was upheld temporarily by an Australian federal court.

Parallels with this case can be drawn with New Zealand’s own efforts to remove videos of the Christchurch terror attack from social media.

Former Chief Censor David Shanks made that decision to permanently censor that video. He joins us now on The Front Page to reflect on that move, and this fight happening across the ditch.

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills

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