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Following a significant legal reversal, the Australian classification review board has overturned a earlier ruling that blocked Australian-based users from seeing recorded content of the violent event involving influencer Charlie Kirk. This challenge was lodged by Elon Musk's company X, arguing against an order sought by the online safety regulator.

Details of the Case and Ban

Following the death of Charlie Kirk at a US campus in September, the regulator applied to the classification board to officially classify the circulating video. The board initially ruled the content was "unable to be classified", a rating that empowered the commissioner to order platforms to geo-block the videos for an Australian audience.

Elon Musk's company filed an appeal for a pair of videos related to the Kirk incident. It also appealed a comparable ban on another piece of footage—showing the attack on Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train—which had also been classified as "unacceptable for distribution".

The Platform's Case and Final Ruling

Arguing its case, X contended that the Kirk video contained only brief violence with the weapon not shown. It was argued the recording was low-quality and the camera quickly panned away from the victim to the bystanders.

X maintained the footage was not overly graphic, exploitative, or offensive, adding that it served as a factual documentation of "a notorious public event of historical and political significance that prompted widespread discussion". The platform drew a parallel between the video and the historic film of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

The majority of the review board ultimately agreed that, "despite the terrible nature of the event," the content did not reach a level that was gratuitous, exploitative or offensive enough to warrant a 'refused classification' rating. However, they noted that a longer or clearer version with different editing might have met that threshold. Consequently, the panel revised the rating of the content to R18+.

The Minority Opinion

A minority on the panel disagreed, contending the post was "content designed for sharing for the likely purposes of amusement and/or benefit (such as engagement metrics)". This view stated the parallel with the JFK assassination tape was invalid, as that footage was made public years after the assassination, "after public sentiment regarding it had subsided".

Reactions to the Outcome

Posting on its global government affairs account, X welcomed the ruling.

"X fought this decision to uphold freedom of expression and the critical nature of access to information about issues of public interest. We remain committed to protecting these fundamental values."

A spokesperson for the safety regulator also welcomed the board's decision, but pointed out that the new R18+ rating now implies platforms "have obligations to prevent R18+ material is not accessible to users under 18".

Recent Developments on Sensitive Footage

In related news, the regulator did not issue take-down orders to platforms this week regarding disturbing videos from the Sydney beach incident circulating on social media. The regulator stated that while the images were distressing, they did not reach the high threshold for a "refused classification" rating.

As an alternative, the companies have been instructed to apply sensitive content labels and interstitials, such as obscuring the image, on such content in line with their existing community guidelines.