Australian Judge Rules That Social Media Platform X Must Answer To Hate Speech Complaint

MELBOURNE, Australia – An Australian judge has found that X, a social media platform, is subject to a state’s anti-discrimination law despite having no office in Australia.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Judge Ann Fitzgerald ruled on Friday that her court has jurisdiction over X Corp. in a hate speech lawsuit.

The verdict empowers the Queensland Human Rights Commission to investigate allegations that X violated Queensland anti-discrimination law by failing to remove or conceal anti-Muslim hate speech.

X | Wikipedia Image

Australian Judge Rules That Social Media Platform X Must Answer To Hate Speech Complaint

The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, which filed the lawsuit against Twitter in June 2022 before billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk purchased and renamed the platform last year, praised the judgment as “precedent-setting.”

Fitzgerald’s ruling “paved the way for social media companies to be held accountable for locally accessible content that may breach Australian hate speech laws,” according to a network statement.

X | Masheable

Australian Judge Rules That Social Media Platform X Must Answer To Hate Speech Complaint

“This is the first such legal victory against a social media company under Australian vilifications laws, which may bear consequences to all social media companies operating in Australia,” stated the statement.

X and its Australian lawyers did not immediately reply to demands for comment on Friday.

X has refused to remove content that the network claims denigrates, dehumanizes, and demonizes the Muslim community, portraying them as an existential threat.

The lawsuit pertains to content, including video and images, that may be accessed via a link placed on X by a purported far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy site written by an American person. The material is then commented on, copied, and distributed.

X | Variety Image

Australian Judge Rules That Social Media Platform X Must Answer To Hate Speech Complaint

The tribunal agreed to the network’s request that the blog and its main creator not be recognized for fear of “adverse consequences” for Muslims.

X maintained that the tribunal had no jurisdiction over the corporation since it had no presence in Queensland and the “impugned conduct” occurred outside Queensland.

SOURCE – (AP)