Source : Perth Now news
The online safety watchdog says it lacks powers to “proactively prevent” a public execution in the US being livestreamed in Australia.
“While eSafety does not have powers to proactively prevent a livestream from occurring online, online services have responsibilities under Australia’s online safety regulatory framework to protect users from harmful material,” an eSafety spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“As the regulator responsible for enforcing these obligations, eSafety is in regular contact with online platforms and will continue to monitor the situation, considering any action as appropriate.”
It comes after the Albanese government said Australians “rightly expect that the content won’t appear on their screens or in their teenagers’ feeds”.
Noting that “President (Donald) Trump has indicated a final decision has not been made”, a spokesperson told NewsWire “Australia’s longstanding bipartisan position has been to oppose the death penalty for all people in all circumstances”.
“Vision of an execution being livestreamed here would be deeply distressing to many Australians,” they said.
“No one should be confronted with it, particularly younger Australians.”
They added: “Platforms have a responsibility to meet those expectations.”
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth last week vowed that former US Army officer Nidal Hasan, who fatally shot 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would face “a firing squad of soldiers” on December 3.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” he said.
While Mr Trump has not fully committed to broadcasting the execution, he has backed the idea.
It would be the first broadcast execution in US history.
More to come
