The Federal Court of Australia has granted an extension of the injunction against X (formerly Twitter) in the eSafety Commissioner’s case against the social media platform until the conclusion of the next hearing on 10 May.

In his latest orders, Justice Kennett granted an interim injunction under s 122(1)(b) of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Cth) requiring the respondent to hide the material identified by the eSafety Commissioner’s removal notice request until 5.00pm on 10 May 2024.

The parties are also required to consult on a timetable for the provision of affidavits and written submissions and provide agreed or competing short minutes by 12pm on 26 April 2024. The application for interlocutory orders is listed for hearing at 10.30am on 10 May 2024.

As reported by Mi3, Australia's eSafety Commissioner won a temporary injunction against Elon Musk's X (Twitter) platform earlier on Monday in the Federal Court after the billionaire refused requests to remove footage of the violent stabbing in a Sydney church on 16 April from the social media site.

The decision to go to court comes after the Commissioner issued legal notices to Google, Meta, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, telegram and reddit requiring all to report on steps they're taking to protect Australians from terrorist and violent extremist material and activity. These notices are possible under transparency powers granted under the Online Safety Act, and requested all six companies to answer questions about how they're tackling the issue.

"We remain concerned about how extremists weaponise technology for live streaming, algorithms and recommender systems and other features to promote or share this hugely harmful material," the commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said in a statement last week.

Yet Musk's response to the legal action has been to repeatedly mock the Australian Government. In a cartoon posted to his personal account, the billionaire suggested the move was an attempt at censorship and illustrated two pathways - one labelling X a platform of free speech and truth, the other labelling his competitors as "censored propaganda" platforms.

"I'd like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public this platform is the only truthful one," Musk stated in a post. "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means," Musk stated in another.

Musk's comments and X's actions were heavily criticised by Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who has subsequently labelled Musk "an arrogant billionaire" without "decency".

"We'll do what's necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law, but also above common decency," the PM stated. "The idea someone would go to court for the right to put up violent content on a platform shows how out of touch Mr Musk is. Social media needs to have social responsibility with it. Mr Musk is not showing any."

The latest statement from X released on 24 April firstly labelled the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel as a tragic event. It then went on claim the Bishop has expressed his desire for the video to remain online and repeated it plans to defend its decision to fight the Australian Government on its request.

“X believe it has complied with the notice issued by eSafety, and with Australian law, by restricting all the posts at issue in Australia,” the statement continued. “Our legal challenge is focused on two key issues.

“First, we believe that these posts should not have been banned in Australia at all. The content within the posts does not encourage or provoke violence and fits within the Australian legislation’s category that permits content that can be reasonably considered as part of public discussion or debate.

“Second, we oppose the demand to globally remove this content from X, as we believe that no government should possess such authority.”