🔗 Share this article The Platform X Secures Legal Challenge to Allow Viewing for Australian Users to Controversial Shooting Footage Following a significant legal reversal, the Australian classification review board has overturned a prior decision that prevented Australian-based users from seeing recorded content of the violent event involving conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. The appeal was initiated by Elon Musk's social media platform, arguing against an directive issued at the request of the national eSafety commissioner. Background on the Case and Ban Following the death of Charlie Kirk at a US campus in last year, the eSafety commissioner petitioned the review board to officially classify the circulating video. It initially ruled the content was "unable to be classified", a designation that empowered the regulator to order platforms to geo-block the posts for an Australian audience. The platform X challenged the decision for two separate videos depicting the Kirk incident. It also appealed a similar ruling on a separate video—depicting the assault of Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train—which had likewise been deemed "refused classification". The Platform's Case and Board's Decision Arguing its case, X contended that the Kirk video contained only a short moment of violence with the weapon not shown. It was argued the footage was grainy and the focus shifted rapidly from the victim to the bystanders. X maintained the footage was not excessively detailed, gratuitous, or offensive, stating it served as a neutral objective record of "a significant incident of public importance that prompted extensive public discourse". X even compared the video and the historic film of the JFK shooting. Most members of the review board concluded that, "notwithstanding the heinous nature of the event," the video did not reach a level that was gratuitous, exploitative or offensive enough to warrant a 'refused classification' rating. The board suggested that a longer or clearer version with alternative commentary could have met that threshold. As a result, the board changed the rating of the content to R18+. The Minority Opinion Some on the panel held a contrary view, arguing the video was "a shareable video for the likely purposes of amusement and/or benefit (such as likes, shares, or views)". They also argued the parallel with the JFK assassination tape was flawed, as the Kennedy video was released years after the assassination, "once emotions regarding it had subsided". Response Following the Decision In a statement on its official policy channel, the platform welcomed the ruling. "X fought this case to defend free speech and the critical nature of access to information about matters of public significance. Our commitment remains dedicated to safeguarding these principles." Representatives for the safety regulator acknowledged the ruling, but pointed out that the new R18+ rating now implies platforms "must take steps to ensure R18+ material being displayed to users under 18". Recent Developments on Violent Content Separately, the regulator did not issue take-down orders to social media companies this week regarding disturbing videos from the recent Bondi beach terror attack shared across social media. The regulator stated that while the content were upsetting, they had not met the high threshold for a "refused classification" rating. Instead, the companies have been advised to use sensitive content labels and screens, such as obscuring the image, on such content in line with their own content policies.