eSafety vs X proceeds to Federal Court trial
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The news: The online safety regulator's ongoing court battle with Elon Musk's X Corp over the removal of a video of a stabbing in Sydney's west will proceed to a two-day hearing in late July, Federal Court of Australia Judge Geoffrey Kennett has ordered.
The context: eSafety announced legal action last month to force X to remove the content and alleging X's non-compliance with its initial removal notice. Kennett then granted the regulator's request for a temporary injunction, ordering X to hide content depicting the stabbing behind a notice.
Earlier this week, Kennett rejected the regulator's interlocutory application for a longer-term injunction, which would have been in place while a court battle on the removal notice itself and X's liability played out.
Related proceedings brought by X in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) over eSafety's decision to class the video content as "class 1" material, or material that would likely be refused classification under the National Classification system is on foot.
The scheduling of hearings for late July in the Federal Court is expected to allow the AAT matter to play out and potentially lead to a more specific case before Kennett.
What they said: Barrister Christopher Tran appeared before Kennett on behalf of eSafety today, saying "much of the urgency" of eSafety's case "has fallen away in the circumstances where there is no injunction".
Tran added that considering eSafety's Federal Court case "in light of the interlocutory judgment and proceedings in the AAT may allow the [Federal Court] case to be narrower".
The source: Federal Court
