r/australia • u/Fact-Rat • 3d ago
politics Australian government says online platforms have ‘responsibility’ to block US military execution livestream
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/12/australian-greens-us-firing-squad-execution-nidal-hasan-live-stream-ntwnfb“Roman amphitheatre stuff”, telling News 24: “I certainly don’t want any children, or anybody to be honest, to witness another human being, being shot by a firing squad.”
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u/Gremlech 3d ago edited 2d ago
It’s already blocked by the e-safety laws passed this year. There’s no reason to make an exception for this display of contempt.
Edit: there’s absolutely no way to stop the distribution of this stuff online though.
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u/moleytron 2d ago
yeah can't wait for it to show up on my tiktok feed whilst I'm taking a shit. My kids are in high school, there's almost no chance they'll not see it.
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u/HmmLifeisAmbiguous 1d ago
Weird thing is, somehow I've managed to still have such an innocent feed, I'm so lucky! Although I only have Insta
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u/Lankpants 2d ago
Edit: there’s absolutely no way to stop the distribution of this stuff online though.
You could come pretty close by telling platforms you're going to fine them every time an Australian watches the video from an Australian IP. Chances are if you did that they would actually put an effort into stopping distribution.
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u/mighthaveabitlater 2d ago
People who want to watch it will just use a vpn, remember when they tried to block all the videos from that guy in New Zealand that did those horrid things to those people? Those still pop up time to time.
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u/kami_inu 2d ago
Sure, but it means that it's only going to go to people who are actively looking for it.
That's at least a step in the right direction over it being considered fair game for anybody to get it served up on the algorithm.
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u/evilparagon 2d ago
I remember when it started circulating again because someone put it through generative AI to make everything be made out of Minions.
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u/mighthaveabitlater 2d ago
They even blocked 4chan for a minute there, but then they gave up. There's so much that is considered illegal to view that is more than freely accessible through Google
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u/Mr_Lumbergh 2d ago
Every day I wonder what the US is going to do to embarrass themselves further, and every day they seem to find a way.
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u/AnOnlineHandle 2d ago
Unfortunately I can imagine them being able to go far lower. Growing up around Trump-like cultists there's no bottom to these groups, they just keep digging down and down their entire lives until they're dead.
He's repeatedly threatened to invade Greenland and Canada and keeps posting maps where they're part of the US. I imagine Australia would suffer the same treatment.
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u/Mr_Lumbergh 2d ago
Some of those trumpers are family members. I’m from there originally.
They sure aren’t crowing as loudly as they were two years ago.
Bummer about having left is now I get to be victim of their foreign policy.
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u/Dvstmancer 2d ago
They are currently buying diesel from Russia, Russia is also funding Iran. So they are effectively finding the country they are at war with. Also Canada currently has a surplus of diesel and was selling it to them for cheaper .
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u/Thoresus 2d ago
Whether or not it is broadcast, the fact that the head of the US Military even suggested this has shown us why we need to move ourselves away from alliances (military, trade or otherwise) with the USA.
They are not a country that can be respected or trusted and their true colours are on display for all to see.
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u/theSaltySolo 2d ago
Let’s just block America 😅
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u/Daisydogdoughnut 2d ago
I had TikTok during the short period that Trump blocked it. It was so nice without the Americans.
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u/Trick-Pass3206 2d ago
Let's block gambling ads at the same time
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u/evil_newton 2d ago
I 100% agree with you. But let’s not let the glorification of killing humans be on par with gambling ads or anything like this.
Live-streaming an execution is sick. It’s vile, and the crimes that person committed have nothing to do with it. Allowing this is making us sick by association. It’s evil and it should be stood up against, not used as a springboard for other issues.
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u/Brutal_burn_dude 2d ago
I think the only possible exception should be someone who would be entitled to witness the execution in person but can’t due to distance (for example the victims’ families). Personally I wouldn’t want to, but I can understand that for some people witnessing the execution may bring them some kind of closure. There are so many potential issues with live-streaming it that I can’t speak to, but I can understand that there may be people who can’t attend in person and have a justified interest in witnessing it.
But regular people? Absolutely not. That is the kind of morbid fascination that serves no one.
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u/karo_scene 2d ago
I can say with absolute certainty, as someone who has viewed extremely violent online material, that anyone who sees this footage live or later on will be damaged mentally by it.
That this exposure will be involuntary as well: philosophy 101 that involuntary harm is worse than voluntary harm. I cannot see how anyone other than a fascist psychopath sicko ghoul can support this.
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u/-Nocx- 2d ago edited 2d ago
American speaking out of place here, but I would actually contend they’re not that different at all.
While I don’t at all agree with it, at least the notion of a live streamed execution forces society at large to contend with the barbaric nature of any type of execution as a form of capital punishment. Normally the death penalty gets glorified as a form of punitive justice that people can bury their heads in the sand about - i.e. it’s a “lethal injection” done in private, so it’s “civilized”. But the reality is, it isn’t.
It’s a system that relies on society’s distance from the act itself to sustain itself - like people not caring about their meat consumption because they are distanced from how cruel animal farms are.
Likewise, the number of suicides caused by gambling gets viewed as a cost of doing business or simply a statistic. Just because the optics of a live streamed execution is worse doesn’t make the reality any less bleak - especially when something like 1 in 5 people with a gambling disorder in the US also have at least one suicide attempt.
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u/evil_newton 2d ago
To be clear, I (and most people in Australia) also think the death penalty shouldn’t be done in private. But you guys in the US have decided that you will be doing that, but I don’t like how you have now decided (through your government) that the bloodlust and violence will be transmitted worldwide to infect us as well.
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u/nroach44 2d ago
It’s a system that relies on society’s distance from the act itself to sustain itself - like people not caring about their meat consumption because they are distanced from how cruel animal farms are.
I agree with you, but we're (Australia) not the ones doing it, not the ones asking for it, not the ones benefiting from it.
That statement applies to us as much as your example applies to vegetarians - Gilead should absolutely be forced to reconcile their ethics with their actions here, but it should not be forced on others.
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u/Pick-Dapper 2d ago
In the case of an execution it’s the state actively murdering someone and now live streaming it in a very deliberate attempt to scare and inflame its citizens.
Death by suicide by a troubled sick person who’s gambled their life away is only tangentially caused by the state. Huge problem yes. Absolutely should be banned. But not a comparable situation and irrelevant to the other situation.
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u/Super_Master_69 2d ago
Gambling causes more harm. It is a predatory business that successfully targets people of all ages. The glorification of gambling is the celebration of exploiting our country’s most vulnerable people.
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u/HmmLifeisAmbiguous 1d ago
Crazy that gambling ads are still legal, smoking ads were banned yonks ago
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u/Tarul-etek 2d ago
But how else can I know to do a multi-bet on everything in my life?
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u/Experimental-cpl 2d ago
Great comparison, legit.
People probably committing suicide inside Australia from gambling debt (which we can actually control!) and we’re worried about some bloke in another country getting shot after he killed innocent people?
Why glorify this bloke? Plenty of other videos online of people shooting each other.
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u/icome2ndagain 2d ago
If I can’t goon to porn without id, i certainly shouldn’t be able to live stream a murder
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u/boatenvy 2d ago
Move over ISIS, North Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia the US are eager to prove they are the most uncivilized feckers on the face of the planet.
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u/NWJ22 2d ago
Did anyone have "execute someone live on tv" on their Trump deflection bingo card?
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u/AnOnlineHandle 2d ago
Yes. And people said I was crazy.
And I also think this is nowhere near as bad as it's going to get.
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u/howchie 2d ago
He should at least have done it on the streets of New York like he boasted, coward
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u/Octagonal_Octopus 2d ago
Are they going to criticise the US for livestreaming a firing squad execution or just attempt to block access to it? Surely the act itself deserves condemnation.
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u/Delamoor 2d ago
Honestly, I'm not sure there's any point. They can communicate that to Australia through loads of channels, and it's not like Trump is gonna give a single fuck what we say, unless it's 'goo goo ga ga let us suck your balls Mr godking'. And we aren't gonna say that.
So maybe it's best to just sit it out while the USA train continues crashing with or without us.
Personally I'm in favour of continuing to quietly decouple from them on every level. Fewer ties and dealings we have with them, the better. They're a liability to even deal with.
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u/jreddit0000 2d ago
“We aren’t going to say it again”
FTFY.
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u/a_cold_human 2d ago
No sense in bringing attention to the fact we're moving away from them. They're highly vindictive bastards who don't like losing face, and keep grudges for a long time.
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u/r3volts 2d ago
Australia is pretty prolific in campaigning for the end of capital punishment on the global stage.
That said, I don't think there is any point to prodding the bear in this scenario.
The US is destroying themselves, the best we can do is to ramp down our dependence on them as much as possible and leave them alone.
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u/dropbearr94 2d ago
Honestly no reason to poke the US.
The current goverment is volatile af and saying that could have the army sent to invade us tomorrow.Best to just let them be while their downfall happens and make moves without them
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u/gorillalifter47 2d ago
I cannot even imagine how miserable you would need to be to actually want to watch this.
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u/Transientmind 1d ago
Oh they’re out there. For a while I was dating one giant walking human red flag that I was too love-bombed to see for it, but then she tried to show me a video of Steve Irwin’s death, and she was laughing at it as she watched it without me. Fuck me I’ve never had a crush turn into disgust so fast or so hard.
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u/gorillalifter47 1d ago
I feel like even the most miserable, insufferable of cunts out there would draw the line well before laughing at Steve Irwin's death.
What an awful person.
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u/Single_Conference_60 2d ago
We don't want to import the idea of punishment as a spectacle from the US. We just don't. It's bad for the soul to revel in the punishment of another, even if they deserve it.
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u/Penguin2359 2d ago
A public execution like 100s of years ago but this time, with the help of the internet!
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u/-_-Edit_Deleted-_- 2d ago
Man on the moon.
They achieved that height of national achievement.
Now they’re broadcasting a public execution live. To everyone.
What a fucking fall.
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u/mighthaveabitlater 2d ago
They've done a lot worse, a fair bit of the Vietnam war, or Iraq war, or war in Afghanistan are pretty widly available for viewing
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u/prettybutditzy 2d ago
What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck.
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u/HobbesBoson 2d ago
Yea shits fucked in America right now
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u/iknowaruffok 2d ago
I have to avoid news from that place, it’s just too consistently disturbing and or stupid.
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u/HobbesBoson 2d ago
Yea. Sadly I have a lot of friends living there so I get to find out the insanity from the horse’s mouth.
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u/nottynews 2d ago
Cue Elmo yelling about free speech and attacking the Australian government again.
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u/mighthaveabitlater 2d ago
I mean the vice president said it would not likely happen, Trump had spoken about it and didn't boast about doing what ever he wanted, which kind of makes it seem like it isn't going to happen, because he'd have just gone on and on about it like he does
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u/ladyhaly 2d ago
You don’t have to erase every copy from the internet for reducing unwanted exposure to be worthwhile. People scrolling their feeds shouldn’t have to stumble across a firing squad execution.
Turning someone’s death into a livestream is fucking grotesque. This has been explored already in the Hunger Games. We know how these stories end.
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u/Comfortable-Tale-351 2d ago
Every time I try to reassure myself that the Handmaids Tale was a fiction, Trump goes and uses it as a manifesto. Again.
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u/Objective_Phase1108 2d ago
That live streamed execution could even be suggested is sickening to me. Worse, I fear they will monetise it and who knows where that path ends
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u/ADingoStoleMyLSD 2d ago
Bluechew presents in partnership with X, Facebook and Open AI, The Budweiser Nestle Execution of Nidal Hasan, live on Twitch, YouTube and Whitehouse.gov.
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u/InvestigatorFun1797 2d ago
My question is, who wants to watch another human, being put to death?
If the law of their origin allows capital punishment, that's one thing.
But broadcasting it to the world? This isn't the bloody hunger games.
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u/btorz2000 2d ago
Are we ever going to have a govt. do more than just finger wag at the yanks. Kick their military out of here, they don't represent our values even slightly.
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u/4us7 2d ago
Man, do people not think about things for one second? Breaking American alliance means handing a win to China. It is absolute lost of softpower.
It is the reason why many Asia pacific nations continues to host American bases, as a leverage and counter balance to China in the region, even when they do have diplomatic spats with the US
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u/btorz2000 2d ago
right so whatever warcrimes USA does we just need to stay silent cause "muh china"? Nice moral compass you got there pal.
USA has 128 foregin militarty bases, China has one but you are crying that china is a threat.
We have 0 historical conflict with china, absolutely nothing. It's american propaganda that constantly claims they are going to invade us any day now.
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u/Pick-Dapper 2d ago
It’s not so much the 0 historical conflict, it’s an assumed potential future conflict due to a fundamental disagreement on the nature of government, human rights etc. China is an authoritarian autocracy with no checks and balances on political power (or more so individual power as Xi consolidated control), and is actively abusing its citizens.
The theory is (was?) we don’t want to ally with that but the opposite. We tolerate it because they buy a shitload of our stuff and we buy a shitload of theirs.
Of course it’s harder and harder to see that America is significantly different under Trump, as he’s attempted to consolidate individual power and has been actively abusing people in their country…
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u/btorz2000 1d ago edited 1d ago
who's assuming we have a potential future conflict with china? America?
We had a war with Japan yet somehow we don't consider them a threat. Maybe because again it's all american propaganda that somehow china being a threat to USA as the next super power and somehow that means we need to fight china for USA
USA doesn't have any checks and balances, congress is doing nothing to stop trump starting wars and bombing fisherman off their coast and claiming they are drug terrorists.
Oh and USA also sanctioning ICC and now looking to ease sanctions of russia. Wouldn't even be surprised if USA starts bombing Ukraine or pulls all military support soon. How much more of a rogue state do we need as an "ally". USA has threatened canada multiple times, a country with way more history than ours with USA. What actually makes you think USA will not threaten us one day?
USA does not have permant friends or enemies, only interests. The wind could shift against us one day just as easily. Try and kick USA out of pine gap and I am certain they would bomb us because of it's strategic value. USA isn't a friend, just a ticking time bomb we are being held hostage buy as long as we play ball their way.
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u/Pick-Dapper 1d ago
Unfortunately or fortunately our interests align more closely with the USA than China which is the point i made and quite clearly understood by all levels of government and those with an understanding of foreign policy.
This may change over time if they both become effective neutral / adversaries as the US is indeed doing some stupid shit with a foreign policy toddler in charge. But as he doesn’t have the full weight of government and military power behind him - there are indeed still some checks on the power as the last 12 months has shown - he will be soon be gone and the world will move on. With any luck they’ll be able to rebuild some semblance of world respect again.
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u/Infinite-Stress2508 2d ago
Who the fuck wants to watch a live execution (or even recorded for that matter), let alone of a paraplegic being killed by military members shooting him tied to his chair? What the fuck America?
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u/blankenson 1d ago
Well ya see the USA should be locked away so they can’t hurt anyone but unfortunately not only are they F**king nuts they have nuclear power so nobody can ever tell them to go to their room
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u/DarkMountain-2022 2d ago edited 2d ago
Do we allow the broadcast of isis killings?
Edit: must've hit a nerve with the religious rightwing mob. They sure don't like being compared to isis 🤣
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u/Beneficial_Ad_6829 2d ago
What are they going to do if it streams on a .gov.us site. Send uncle Don a fine?
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u/profchaos111 2d ago
I don't plan to watch it but it is a moment in history where our closest ally loses their marbles and brings back public executions
So it's a weird one it's messed up but a historical moment
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u/SeaworthinessNew4757 2d ago
Can't they let the adults choose if they want to watch it or not?
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u/Apprehensive-Tea1408 1d ago
Any media, inc social media who allows or doesn’t act to take down any stream of this should be banned from operating in Australia. At a minimum they would have to serve a year’s suspension from operating in Australia depending on culpability. Willingly showing it, say on Ex-Twitter, a plain permanent ban.
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u/MothBoySailor 1d ago
And you're aware how much that isn't going to happen, right?
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u/Apprehensive-Tea1408 1d ago
Obviously not. But there must be consequences for not doing their best to block it, or worse deliberately hosting the stream.
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u/MothBoySailor 1d ago
Would you recommend this be the case for any other recorded instance of death on the internet, or is this one special because you really don't like the US?
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u/HmmLifeisAmbiguous 1d ago
Wtf. It's an execution. You wanna watch someone get murdered???
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u/Euphoric-Cucumber609 1d ago
Let’s host 18+ public viewings of it and livestream the crowd while we’re at it. It’s our right to see their reactions
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u/SeaworthinessNew4757 1d ago
Well, yes. We've watched 9/11 happening live on TV, we've watched Gaddafi getting lynched, we had pictures of Mussolini hanging upside down on our history books at school. How is this different? Why is everyone acting like death isn't something we see on the media everyday?
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u/MrXenomorph88 6h ago
Difference with a lot of those is those generally were shown on television as part of the news cycle, and all were massive events that had severe repercussions.
You're saying there's nothing wrong with every social media site having a live stream of a guy who's only notable for committing a mass shooting in the US, getting blasted by a firing squad. I mean if you want to go that far, why don't we just live stream security footage from Columbine?
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u/SeaworthinessNew4757 3h ago
Because Columbine was a terrorist attack, an execution is the carrying of a lawful sentence by a State. The same way a prison is legal, but an individual keeping someone against their will is kidnapping.
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u/MrBobbyFreakout 2d ago
There’s plenty of places where you can watch people die. I think because this is a (US) government sanctioned killing that the standards are a bit different. Any government shouldn’t celebrating killing.
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u/JuniorCash8046 2d ago
This should not be live streamed at all. The very notion of it is ridiculous. If America wants to play that way we can’t stop it but we should have more decency here in Aus. Someone better step in
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u/goldmikeygold 2d ago
They will be pay per view live streaming the burning of witches at the stake next.
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u/standardnoisevoice 2d ago
How messed up have we become that some people will unashamedly defend snuff films.
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u/Banegio 1d ago edited 1d ago
online platforms have ‘responsibility’ to block
On what basis? That starts to sound like Trump by just saying things to pressure others.
I say online platforms have responsibility to let Australian adults decide ourselves.
The gov can ask for a court injunction or pass a law if they think that's the "right thing". At least then we have a proper political or legal debate on moral matters.
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u/dablikepinkmilk 1d ago
So the government enforces mandatory age verification on multiple sites for porn but an online execution they are like there is nothing they can do and it’s up to platforms to prevent it. What a fucking joke.
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u/Chemical_Ad_6754 1d ago
Bread and Circuses for a decaying Empire rled over by a demented Paedophile Emperor
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u/CharlesForbin 2d ago
This is not a comment in support of live streaming an execution. This is about the hypocrisy of the Australian Government.
There are tens of thousands of hours of video on the internet of people losing their lives. There are war videos, police body cams, car crashes, autopsies, public assassinations, for example. The only one the Australian Government wants to restrict comes from the Trump administration. I don't recall them lifting a finger to restrict distribution of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
We've all seen that video in frame by frame and the Australian Government did nothing, which is what they should have done. Nothing, is also what it should do about this.
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u/mount_analogue 2d ago
actually, the government made a concerted, official effort to ban the Charlie Kirk assassination from all online platforms. Look it up!
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u/birdy_the_scarecrow 2d ago
lol it cant have worked very well, i think i saw it from like 20,000 different angles it was hard not to see it.
in all honesty its a lost cause at this point, people have made it way too big a deal for it not to make the rounds now, short of cancelling the execution all together.
there are literally subreddits flooded with videos from ukraine that are way more brutal to watch than whatever this will be.
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u/soupstarsandsilence 2d ago
Look if people wanna watch, they can go ahead and watch to their freaky hearts’ content; attempt to ban it all you like, the people who wanna see it will find a way, but I personally (and I hope you all agree) don’t need it banned to know that I’m not gonna touch that thing without a 15934km long pole.
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u/OverlordDownunder 2d ago
Look, in not gonna lie, I tried converting that 15934km to miles, yards and feet thinking it was going to be some clever joke of converted freedom units to regular units.......it was not....
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u/soupstarsandsilence 2d ago
It is kinda a joke lol. Or at least a reference. It’s the distance between the ACT and Washington DC 😭🤣
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u/HighPitchedApplause 2d ago
The government should just make a requirement for all tech companies to have a child protection setting accessible at purchase that can only be disabled after purchase by the company at the request of a guardian or when the owner is 18+.
Stop limiting regular access across the board. This is a snowball affect, they will continue to monitor and restrict access if we let them and that can be a very dangerous power if left to grow.
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u/Evening-Event1902 2d ago
What are they going to do if it’s live streamed on the department of wars own website?
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u/Conscious-Benefit-82 2d ago
The man to be executed is in a wheelchair. He cannot stand. Will he be tied to something? Perhaps a timber frame? Genuine question
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u/hurrdurrmeh 2d ago
The americans are streaming an execution by firing squad????
That the actual fuck we are no longer the good guys. Tomato tomayto.
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u/luckysevensampson 2d ago
Great. Now, start giving a shit about social media bot propaganda campaigns.
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u/Snoo_49660 3d ago
If the greens and one nation agree that something is fucked up, then it's probably pretty fucked up.