The online safety regulator's decision to move an entire legal spat with Elon Musk's X Corp to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was hailed by the mega-billionaire as a victory for free speech. But for lawyers it was an unsurprising manoeuvre with some far-reaching implications for a dispute that is far from over.
The Federal Court battle with X over removal orders linked to videos of a stabbing of a Christian bishop in Sydney's west had been scheduled for a two-day hearing next month. But this week eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant made the decision to cut and run and consolidate the fight with the social media platform in one place: the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
"This is not surprising off the back of the initial decision [by Federal Court of Australia Judge Geoffrey Kennett]. The court made it relatively clear what it thought," Addisons partner Justine Munsie told me.
When Kennett last month rejected the extension of an injunction forcing X to hide content depicting the stabbing, he said the regulator had failed to establish a (ahem) "prima facie case" for a final long-term injunction.
