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The eSafety Commissioner has once again blocked videos of violent crimes against caucasians, Christians and conservatives, raising concerns over politically motivated censorship in Australia.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has ignited fresh controversy after ordering the social media platform X to block footage of politically sensitive crimes, threatening daily fines of more than $800,000 for noncompliance.

One tranche of footage, showing the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in the United States, has been classified “Refused Classification” under Australian law — effectively banning it from public view.

The Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, issued a 20-page removal notice to X on 26 September, demanding the platform take down 23 posts featuring CCTV footage of Zarutska’s death. The order warned that failure to comply could result in penalties of up to $825,000 per day.

X, owned by Elon Musk, has restricted the posts for Australian users but refused to remove them globally.

Inman Grant said the decision was based on protecting Australians from violent imagery. Yet critics say it represents another step in a growing pattern of political censorship — one that suppresses uncomfortable truths rather than shielding the public from harm.

“Australians are paying taxes so bureaucrats can censor posts from European activists talking about the murder of a Ukrainian woman in America,” said Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek, whose post was among those targeted.

The eSafety Commissioner’s notice listed prominent conservative figures, including Vlaardingerbroek, Belgian activist Dries Van Langenhove, and several highly popular journalists.

It followed similar efforts last year to force X to remove footage of a stabbing attack on conservative Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney — a case that ended in court defeat for Inman Grant.

A Clash Over Truth and Transparency

The banned video shows 23-year-old Zarutska being attacked on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, by 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, a 14-time repeat violent offender recently released on bail.

Brown, who is African-American, is reported by multiple outlets to have said, “I got that white girl,” following the stabbing.

The shocking footage spread rapidly online in August, prompting calls for tougher sentencing laws. North Carolina legislators responded by passing “Iryna’s Law,” strengthening penalties for violent crime and tightening bail restrictions.

For many viewers, the footage served as grim evidence of judicial failure — and, some argue, of racial and ideological double standards in media coverage.

Conservative commentators noted that similar crimes, when the racial dynamics are reversed, rarely attract comparable censorship.

Australian journalist Rukshan Fernando questioned the motivations behind the Commissioner’s move, noting that other explicit content remains readily accessible online, even as politically charged violence is suppressed.

“Why is it that Australians can see some videos which may depict violence from theatres of war, but have content hidden that reveals double standards when innocent victims are killed?” he wrote on social media.

Australian conservative news site Caldron Pool raised similar concerns, noting that pornography is far more destructive to families than CCTV footage of attacks on Christians and caucasians — yet the eSafety Commissioner appears to censor the latter while ignoring the former.

Pornography is far more destructive to families and society than CCTV footage showing attacks on Whites and Christians — yet the eSafety Commissioner seems intent on censoring the latter while turning a blind eye to the former.

Why is that?

— Caldron Pool (@CaldronPool) October 6, 2025

Charlie Kirk Murder Footage Also Blocked

The eSafety censorship notice also targeted footage of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of conservative organisation Turning Point USA. Kirk, 31, was shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University on 10 September.

The eSafety Commissioner also classified the Kirk footage as Refused Classification, ordering platforms to remove or geo-block it under the same substantial daily fines.

Critics argue that the suppression of both Kirk’s murder and the Zarutska footage highlights a broader pattern in which violent crimes affecting conservatives, or involving racial dynamics, receive heightened scrutiny.

They claim it silences discussion about Black-on-White violence and the treatment of conservatives in the West, raising concerns over selective censorship and political influence over online content.

In July, Julie Inman Grant was named in a US Congressional report for colluding with the left-wing Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to influence censorship of conservative speech.

A dual US-Australian citizen, Inman Grant has also dismissed the First Amendment as something that “does not apply in Australia” and told a World Economic Forum panel she believed human rights like freedom of speech are in need of “recalibration”.

A Legal Battle Over Free Speech

In response to the censorship notice, the Free Speech Union of Australia (FSU) has launched legal action against the eSafety Commissioner, filing a claim with the Administrative Review Tribunal on 5 October. The organisation argues that the notice breaches the implied freedom of political communication under Australian law.

“The Commissioner claims to be censoring a video,” the Free Speech Union (FSU) said in a statement, “but really this is about censoring the tweets.” The group emphasised that the footage, released publicly by US authorities, was being shared alongside commentary and analysis, giving it clear political relevance.

THREAD: FSU Australia has just filed yet another claim against the @esafetyoffice for her latest attempt to censor free discussion on the news.

In this case, it concerns an attempt to ban anyone viewing the murder of Iryna Zarutska. pic.twitter.com/o9NJaHafqu

— Free Speech Union of Australia (@FSUofAustralia) October 6, 2025

The FSU’s submission highlights several concerns.

First, it argues that the footage was lawfully published by the Charlotte Area Transit System and cannot reasonably be deemed “offensive to the standards of morality and decency generally accepted by reasonable adults.”

Second, it claims the Commissioner misused her powers by targeting political commentary rather than specific depictions of violence.

The Union also noted that mainstream outlets such as CNN, BBC, NBC, Fox News, CBS Mornings, Megyn Kelly, and the New York Post have shown the same footage, or portions of it, without sanction.

“The purpose appears to be to target commentary on the video, not the video itself,” the submission reads.

“The eSafety Commissioner is putting Australia on the map again for all the wrong reasons,” the FSU further argued in an email to supporters. “Last year, the eSafety regime tried this, making global headlines when it tried to force X to take down videos of the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney worldwide.”

The Free Speech Union has requested that the Tribunal suspend the eSafety Commissioner’s notice while the review is conducted, citing the risk of ongoing constitutional harm.

Earlier this month, eSafety refused to process a Freedom of Information (FOI) request lodged by The Daily Declaration after identifying 2,600 records relating to our ministry, revealing the breadth of government tracking of Christian groups online.

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.