Thwarting access to the livestream of a US firing squad execution for all Australians isn't on the cards, as the government admits it doesn't have the necessary powers.
The looming death of Nidal Hasan by firing squad, scheduled for early December, is likely to be streamed around the world for public viewing.
Communications Minister Anika Wells conceded in a caucus meeting on Tuesday there was no legislative basis to prevent the livestream reaching Australians online.
The government remains opposed to the death penalty and Ms Wells has not confirmed if it will make efforts to contact the Trump administration before the planned broadcast of the execution.
Anika Wells says there's no legislative basis to prevent the livestream reaching Australians online. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
The public execution has been ordered by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, one of President Donald Trump's closest colleagues.
Mr Trump has said he's still considering whether the US will livestream the execution of Hasan, a former army major and physician who was found guilty of killing 13 people on a military base in 2009.
The nation's eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, also has no power to stop the video from being shown domestically, instead calling on social media platforms to halt it.
"Online services have responsibilities under Australia's online safety regulatory framework to protect users from harmful material," an eSafety spokesperson said.
"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."
Online safety advocacy group Digital Rights Watch have slammed the lack of action from all stakeholders and have urged eSafety to learn from previous incidents.
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant is calling on social media platforms to stop the livestream. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
"The video will be all over the internet, and people who want to watch it will find a way," head of policy Tom Sulston told AAP.
"However, that doesn't mean that social media and other content companies should do nothing."
The commission was granted emergency powers to notify platforms to remove harmful content in the wake of the Christchurch massacre in 2019, which was livestreamed on Facebook.
"There's a good chance that video of the execution would count as class 1 material ... eSafety already has powers to demand the removal of such content, and they should be using them in this instance," Mr Sulston said.
Representatives from social media giant Meta have declined to comment on the matter.
Australian politicians from across the political spectrum have called for the livestream to be halted.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Australian officials should "pick up the phone" to the US, demanding the plan be thwarted.
"The idea that a state-sanctioned killing would be televised, would be live-streamed as content, almost for entertainment value, as a government PR episode ... is revolting, is barbaric, and must be called out," she told ABC Radio National.
The issue comes amid a backdrop of broader online safety conversations in Australia, as the government hopes to pass its long-awaited digital duty of care bill this week.
SOURCE/AUTHOR : AAP NEWS/Lucinda Garbutt-Young and Noah Secomb in Canberra
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