SYDNEY: Elon Musk’s X on Friday lost a legal bid to avoid a $417,000 fine levelled by Australia’s online watchdog, which has accused the platform of failing to stamp out harmful posts.
Australia’s eSafety Commission approached what was then Twitter in February 2023, demanding the company explain how it was tackling the spread of child sexual abuse content.
The following month Twitter was merged into Musk’s newly formed X Corp, which was eventually fined for “incomplete” responses to the commission’s repeated requests.
X Corp. argued in Australia’s Federal Court that it did not need to respond because the commission had first targeted Twitter, a company that no longer existed.
“X Corp. has failed on all its claims,” Justice Michael Wheelahan found in a decision handed down on Friday.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — a former Twitter employee — welcomed the court’s decision.
“Had X Corp’s argument been accepted by the court it could have set the concerning precedent that a foreign company’s merger with another foreign company might enable it to avoid regulatory obligations in Australia.”
Inman Grant has previously said X’s efforts to rid the platform of graphic sexual and violent content amounted to “empty talk.”
The commission must now fight a separate legal battle in a bid to enforce the fine — one of many skirmishes pitting the Australian government against tech mogul Musk.
Musk likened the Australian government to “fascists” earlier this year, attacking proposed laws that would fine social media giants for failing to stem the spread of misinformation.
In June, X fended off a separate legal suit brought by Australia’s eSafety Commission.
The watchdog had sought a global takedown order forcing X to remove “extremely violent” videos showing the stabbing of a Sydney preacher.
But it dropped the case after a preliminary hearing, a move celebrated by Musk as a free speech triumph.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups worldwide, including in the European Union, which could decide within months to take action against X with possible fines.
In Brazil, where X has effectively been suspended after it ignored a series of court directives, Musk has responded by blasting the judge as an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”
Elon Musk’s X fails bid to escape Australian fine
https://arab.news/gnvxd
Elon Musk’s X fails bid to escape Australian fine
- Elon Musk’s X loses legal bid to avoid a $417,000 fine levelled by Australia’s online watchdog
- In June, X fended off a separate legal suit brought by Australia’s eSafety Commission
Iran confirms arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala
DUBAI: Iran confirmed the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.
Sala, 29, who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, according to the Italian foreign ministry.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Saturday declined to say whether the case might be linked to the arrest of an Iranian in Italy this month at the request of the United Sttates.
The case of the Italian journalist being held in Iran is “complicated,” but Rome hopes to bring Sala home quickly, Tajani
said.
“Italian national Cecilia Sala traveled to Iran on Dec. 13 with a journalist visa and was detained on Dec. 19... for violating the laws of the Islamic Republic,” a statement by Iran’s Culture Ministry said, according to IRNA.
Chora Media said Sala had left Rome for Iran on Dec. 12 with a valid journalist visa and had conducted several interviews and produced three episodes of her “Stories” podcast. She had been due to fly back to Rome on Dec. 20.
Sala has been in contact by phone with her family and the Italian embassy in Tehran was notified of her detention, the statement said.
In recent years, Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.
Italian journalist arrested in Iran: Rome
- Cecilia Sala was detained on Dec. 19 by police in Tehran
- Foreign ministry said it had been following case closely
ROME: Italy denounced Friday the “unacceptable” arrest of an Italian journalist in Iran, who her employer said was being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Cecilia Sala was detained on Dec. 19 by police in Tehran, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Italy’s ambassador, Paola Amadei, had visited her earlier Friday.
Defense Minister Giudo Crosetto said on X that her arrest was “unacceptable,” adding that Italy was using “high-level political and diplomatic action” to try to secure her release.
Chora Media, an Italian podcast publisher for which Sala worked, said she had left Rome for Iran on Dec. 12 with a journalism visa, and was due to return on December 20.
But she went quiet on Dec. 19 and then did not board her flight. Shortly afterward she called her mother to say she had been arrested, it said.
“She was taken to Evin prison, where dissidents are held, and the reason for her arrest has not yet been formalized,” Chora said in a statement.
Sala also worked for Italian newspaper Il Foglio, which said she had been in Iran “to report on a country she knows and loves.”
“Journalism is not a crime, even in countries that repress all freedoms, including those of the press. Bring her home,” it said.
Chora said it had not publicized her case until now in the hope that she would swiftly be returned home. It called for her immediate release.
The foreign ministry said it had been following the case closely and was working with Iranian authorities to clarify Sala’s situation, including the conditions of her detention.
Sala, reported to be 29-years-old, had been able to make two phone calls to relatives, it said, without giving further details.
Lebanese journalist Abir Rahal killed by husband before his suicide
- The couple were at a Shariah court in the town of Shheem in Mount Lebanon to complete their divorce proceedings
- Masoud fled the scene after shooting his wife at a close range
BEIRUT: Lebanese journalist Abir Rahal was shot to death by her husband inside a courthouse before he committed suicide, reported the state news agency NNA.
The couple were at a Shariah court in the town of Shheem in Mount Lebanon to complete their divorce proceedings after Rahal filed for separation from her husband, Khalil Masoud, according to media reports.
Masoud fled the scene after shooting his wife at a close range, posting a video on his Facebook account an hour later detailing their financial disputes over a local news website he claimed to have founded.
He also expressed his intent to commit suicide after the video is posted.
Security officers later found his body in his car after he shot himself with a gun in his possession.
“When you watch this video, I will have departed this world,” said Masoud.
He was transported to the government hospital in Sibline but succumbed to his injuries shortly afterward.
The couple are survived by their three children.
Palestinian TV says Israeli strike kills 5 journalists in Gaza
- The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East arm said the organization was devastated
GAZA: A Palestinian TV channel affiliated with a militant group said five of its journalists were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in Gaza, with Israel’s military saying it had targeted a “terrorist cell.”
A missile hit the journalists’ broadcast truck as it was parked in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to a statement from their employer, Al-Quds Today.
It is affiliated with Islamic Jihad, whose militants have fought alongside Hamas in the Gaza Strip and took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The channel identified the five staffers as Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Ayman Al-Jadi, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Khalil, Fadi Hassouna and Mohammed Al-Lada’a.
They were killed “while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty,” the statement said.
“We affirm our commitment to continue our resistant media message,” it added.
The Israeli military said in its own statement that it had conducted “a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat.”
It added that “prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.”
According to witnesses in Nuseirat, a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft hit the broadcast vehicle, which was parked outside Al-Awda Hospital, setting the vehicle on fire and killing those inside.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East arm said the organization was “devastated by the reports that five journalists and media workers were killed inside their broadcasting vehicle by an Israeli strike.”
“Journalists are civilians and must always be protected,” it added in a statement on social media.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said last week that more than 190 journalists had been killed and at least 400 injured since the start of the war in Gaza.
It was triggered by the Hamas-led October 7 attack last year, which resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,361 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Palestinian Authority clashes with Al Jazeera over Jenin coverage
- Palestinian Authority security forces have battled Islamist fighters in Jenin, as they try to control one of the historic centers of militancy in the West Bank ahead of a likely shakeout in Palestinian politics after the Gaza war
JERUSALEM: Al Jazeera television has clashed with the Palestinian Authority over its coverage of the weeks-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and militant fighters in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Fatah, the faction which controls the Palestinian Authority, condemned the Qatari-headquartered network, which has reported extensively on the clashes in Jenin, saying it was sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular.” It encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.
Israel closed down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel in May, saying it threatened national security. In September, it ordered the network’s bureau in Ramallah, to close for 45 days after an intelligence assessment that the offices were being used to support terrorist activities.
“Al Jazeera has successfully maintained its professionalism throughout its coverage of the unfolding events in Jenin,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Palestinian Authority security forces have battled Islamist fighters in Jenin, as they try to control one of the historic centers of militancy in the West Bank ahead of a likely shakeout in Palestinian politics after the Gaza war.
Forces of the PA, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, moved into Jenin in early December, clashing daily with fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which are supported by Iran.
The standoff has fueled bitter anger on both sides, deepening the divisions which have long existed between the Palestinian factions and their supporters.
Al Jazeera said its broadcasts fairly presented the views of both sides.
“The voices of both the Palestinian resistance and the Spokesperson of the Palestinian National Security Forces have always been present on Al Jazeera’s screens,” Al Jazeera said.
