eSafety office in Australia advises websites to remove video of the Buffalo attack but does not prevent access to those sites

A young girl looks at a memorial for the weekend shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The Australian office of the eSafety commissioner has ordered eight sites to remove material associated with the attack. Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The Australian office of the eSafety Commissioner has submitted eight notices to websites displaying the video or manifesto of the Buffalo terrorist assault, but none have been blocked in Australia.

On Saturday, an 18-year-old white man allegedly opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominately African-American neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. According to US police, he used a camera to webcast the attack and wrote a 180-page manifesto online while shooting at 13 people and killing 10.

In response to the Christchurch attack, which the alleged Buffalo shooter reportedly referenced in his manifesto, the Australian government swiftly enacted new legislation empowering the eSafety commissioner to order Australian internet service providers to block sites hosting the relevant video or manifesto. In 2020, it was incorporated into Australia's Online Safety Act.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, decided that the video and manifesto were liable for removal under the Online Safety Act and issued notifications to eight overseas-hosted websites, giving each site 24 hours to delete the information.

People might be penalized $2,664, and organizations could be fined $13,320 for failing to comply with the notification. Additional fines of $111,000 for individuals and $555,000 for enterprises could also be applied.

Since then, four of the sites have removed the content.

Inman Grant stated, "Some of the worst fringe websites in the world host this horrible content, and I make no apologies for taking action against them to protect Australians."

One website that received a notice published the letter in its entirety and responded, "The United States has laws protecting freedom of speech and the distribution of information," with many comments mocking the attempt to delete the content.

The site was also momentarily suspended in Australia for containing content relating to the attack in Christchurch.

According to Guardian Australia, the commissioner has not taken the further step of ordering access to the sites to be restricted in Australia because the comparatively limited distribution of the material on gore websites and file hosting has not met the criteria for an "online crisis event."

The commissioner could take other measures, such as fining the sites or their web servers. However, it is unclear how this would be implemented for sites not housed in Australia. Additionally, the commissioner could request that search engines delete links to the item from search results.

On Wednesday, Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, revealed that her office was examining Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, Discord, and other platforms used by the Buffalo gunman to amplify the attack.

Publish : 2022-05-19 15:35:00

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