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”.