X CEO Linda Yaccarino speaks at the VivaTech conference in Paris, France.
Benjamin Gillette | Bloomberg | Getty Images
PARIS — X chief executive Linda Yaccarino was hit in Australia on Friday after a standoff with online safety regulators.
Elon Musk’s social media platform Suspended in Australia A court has refused to extend an interim order blocking footage of a Sydney church stabbing.
Bishop Mar Marie Emmanuel stabbed During the live sermon, which was widely shared online, it was viewed hundreds of thousands of times. After the incident, Australian Electronic Safety SpecialistThe country’s online watchdog obtained a temporary legal injunction ordering X to hide posts showing footage of the attack.
In a speech at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Yacarino accused Australia of overreaching in the dispute.
“While X operates in compliance with the law, we are also not shy when we believe there has been a very clear overreach and that the citizens of that particular area are at risk or their access to information is compromised,” she said.
She added: “With what has happened recently in Australia, it is necessary for X to stand up and protect people to ensure they have access to this information so they can make their own decisions.”
On May 13, a Federal Court judge rejected a request by the Electronic Safety Commissioner to extend an injunction to remove posts on X showing a violent attack on a priest in April.
“The good news is, the people prevailed,” Yacarino, the former global advertising chief of CNBC parent company NBCUniversal, said on stage. “We’re grateful to be that beacon of light and that place of truth.”
The incident sparked a conflict between Musk and the Australian government. then, Musk criticized the move as an attack on free speech.
Australia’s electronic safety regulator was not immediately contacted for comment by CNBC on Friday.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement Interviewed at On April 23, Musk believed that “he was above Australian law” and accused him of being “arrogant”.
He said that “this is not about censorship” but about “decency” and that Musk should “show something.”
In response, Musk posted on X: “I don’t think I’m above the law. Does the Prime Minister think he should have jurisdiction over the entire planet?”
eSafety has previously said it believes online safety “requires platforms to take all practical and reasonable steps to minimize the harm they may cause to Australians”.
—CNBC’s Sumathi Bala contributed to this report.
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