{"id":925387,"date":"2026-10-12T12:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925387\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:12:15","slug":"australian-government-says-online-platforms-have-responsibility-to-block-us-military-execution-live-stream-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925387\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian government says online platforms have \u2018responsibility\u2019 to block US military execution live stream | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government says online platforms have a \u201cresponsibility\u201d to block a US military<\/a> execution from Australians, saying \u201cno-one\u201d should see it, amid cross-parliament calls for its broadcast to be restricted.<\/p>\n

While the communications department warned media broadcasters must \u201cact responsibly\u201d in reporting on the scheduled execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan \u2013 which the Pentagon said would be livestreamed on 3 December <\/a>\u2013 Australian federal government sources said there may be limitations in what it can do to order restrictions on an ally carrying out its own legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

Hasan, a 56-year-old former army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 after being convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Twelve of the 13 killed and 30 of the wounded were soldiers.<\/p>\n

The US government said last week it would livestream his execution, but has not confirmed how or on what platform that stream would be carried.<\/p>\n

\"PetePete Hegseth says execution of Fort Hood mass killer will be livestreamed \u2013 video<\/p>\n

The plan has drawn severe concern in the US and internationally, including among politicians, religious leaders and human rights advocates, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The United Nations\u2019 office of the high commissioner for human rights warned on Friday that broadcasting the killing would amount to a public execution and \u201cbreach the absolute prohibition of torture\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Hanson-Young, the Greens\u2019 communications spokesperson, wrote to minister Anika Wells and the eSafety commission to urge they take \u201cwhatever action is necessary\u201d to block the execution being broadcast in Australia or accessible online, calling it an \u201can unconscionable, abhorrent act\u201d.<\/p>\n

In comments to the ABC, Hanson-Young said: \u201cI think this is incredibly shocking and barbaric, and Australians don\u2019t want this on our screens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her letter called on the government to take \u201cpre-emptive\u201d steps and warn the likes of YouTube, Meta, TikTok and streaming services that they should not allow the video to be available in Australia. Hanson-Young also said the eSafety commission should pursue regulatory action against \u201cany large platforms\u201d allowing the broadcast of the execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cInaction on this will jeopardise millions of Australians\u2019 online safety,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Albanese government noted the Trump administration said a final decision hadn\u2019t been made, but voiced concerns over potential livestreaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cVision of an execution being livestreamed here would be deeply distressing to many Australians. No one should be confronted with it, particularly younger Australians,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians rightly expect that the content won\u2019t appear on their screens or in their teenagers\u2019 feeds. Platforms have a responsibility to meet those expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement did not outline a penalty for hosting such content, or any proactive steps to prevent its broadcast.<\/p>\n

Government sources said they were investigating what action could be taken. However, it was noted that such an execution \u2013 which is legal under the American justice system \u2013 would potentially be treated differently to videos showing unlawful killings or other serious crimes, which have been restricted by Australian regulators.<\/p>\n

Calls to restrict the livestream found support across the political divide. Shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson called it an \u201cabhorrent and violent act, saying she too had written to eSafety to ask whether federal regulations around broadcast of violent material would apply.<\/p>\n

The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, said allowing the execution to be streamed would be \u201cenormously problematic\u201d, but added he had concerns about opening the door to \u201ca censorship ban on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n

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One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce called the public nature of the execution \u201cRoman amphitheatre stuff\u201d, telling News 24: \u201cI certainly don\u2019t want any children, or anybody to be honest, to witness another human being, being shot by a firing squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HandoutNidal Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. Photograph: Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s going to be livestreamed, how are you going to do that without creating the artifice to be able to block content on the internet and create an online portal of censorship?\u201d he told the ABC.<\/p>\n

Under the Online Safety Act, the eSafety commissioner has powers to order the platforms to block Australians\u2019 access to specific posts that contain vision that would be classified as \u201crefused classification\u201d under Australia\u2019s classification code. Ultimately the office or the classifications board would need to determine if the footage \u2013 if it goes ahead \u2013 meets the bar of \u201ccrime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults\u201d.<\/p>\n

The most high-profile example was when the eSafety commissioner ordered platforms to remove footage of the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church in 2024<\/a> \u2013 which Elon Musk\u2019s X challenged. It resulted in a shift for eSafety away from requiring their removal to just blocking Australians\u2019 access to the content.<\/p>\n

eSafety again used the power last year to order the removal of videos of the shooting of the rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk. X challenged the classification of the video<\/a>, and the classification review board reduced the rating of the video from refused classification to R18+.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts said large broadcasters like TV stations \u201cmust comply with rules about reporting on violent or distressing content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be expected they exercise strong editorial control over their coverage and act responsibly in reporting on this matter,\u201d a statement read.<\/p>\n

The regulator has powers to seek multimillion-dollar fines against companies failing to prevent the proliferation of extreme violent material. The first test case for this power, against messaging platform Telegram<\/a>, is due to be heard in the federal court in February next year.<\/p>\n

eSafety also has powers to declare the broadcast as an \u201conline crisis event\u201d under laws that were passed in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack in 2019<\/a>. The powers allow eSafety to direct internet service providers to block websites that are hosting graphic material that depicts a terrorist act or violent crime.<\/p>\n

The debate over the execution comes amid Wells\u2019 negotiations on a digital duty of care<\/a>, which would place further obligations on big tech to protect their users from harmful content. The bill is being finalised this week amid discussions across the parliament<\/a>, and the minister is expected to introduce the legislation later this week ahead of an address to the National Press Club on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Barbaric\u2019\u2018Barbaric\u2019 firing squad livestream ordered by Pete Hegseth – The Latest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government says online platforms have a \u201cresponsibility\u201d to block a US military execution from Australians, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-925387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}