eSafety commissioner expresses ‘great sadness’ that Axel Rudakubana viewed video before murdering three girls in the UK, noting ‘clear link’ between online material and real-world violence. Australia’s online safety regulator has expressed “great sadness” after it was revealed a British teenager who fatally stabbed three children in the UK had earlier searched for a video of a Sydney church stabbing on social media that her office had attempted to have taken down.
An eSafety spokesperson on Friday said in attempting to have X remove the Sydney video it “was guided by its mission to protect our community from harmful online material, including material that may severely traumatise, manipulate or radicalise vulnerable people, especially children and the young”.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, was convicted and sentenced to 52 years in prison in the UK on Thursday for murdering the three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July 2024 and the attempted murder of 10 others. Six minutes before Rudakubana left home ahead of the killings he searched for a video of the April 2024 Sydney church attack in which Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was allegedly stabbed while livestreaming a sermon.
In Friday’s statement, eSafety noted: “Research and the experience of law enforcement in Australia and internationally has shown a clear link between extreme, graphic violent material and harm to children, not to mention instances of real-world violence or attempted violence.”.
