'X Corp's conduct, both within this commission and outside of it, begs the question whether X Corp has or ought to have a social licence to operate in Australia,' counsel assisting Richard Lancaster said.

Counsel assisting the antisemitism royal commission, Richard Lancaster SC, condemned X and its billionaire owner Elon Musk for using Holocaust images to justify allowing gruesome footage from the Bondi Hanukkah terror attack to appear online.

Lancaster said that although X is an apparent proponent of unconstrained speech, it has remained silent on the issue, despite repeated requests to appear before the commission.

He added that X has demonstrated a complete lack of interest in providing transparency concerning the topic of keeping Australians safe from the proliferation of terrorist and violent mixed material, including extreme anti-Semitism.

The corporation's refusal to engage with the royal commission showed a 'shocking disregard' for the Australian community.

The commission earlier heard that Musk's organisation fought to keep gruesome content relating to the Bondi massacre online, arguing it was no more graphic than a 'gore movie'.

Lancaster called X's inclusion of 'page after page' of Holocaust imagery in its submission supporting its position that a video depicting deceased victims of the Bondi Hanukkah attack should be permitted online 'should be unequivocally condemned'.

Dr Andre Oboler, chief executive officer of the Online Hate Prevention Institute, earlier told the commission that X had been difficult to work with for a decade, and particularly since the platform was bought by Musk, who had significantly downgraded its trust function.

Oboler said that X remains a major online contributor to online antisemitism and was personally targeted on the platform.

Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor at CyberWell, a nonprofit that monitors and counters online antisemitism, told the commission that X's removal rate for antisemitic content dropped from 54% in 2024 to just above 29% in 2026.

The commission will hold hearings in Melbourne next week, where the focus will be on universities. Sydney University confirmed on Friday that it would appear.

Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell said that regulating the online ecosystem to tackle hate speech and antisemitism in particular was central to the commission's work.

Counsel Assisting Matt Sherman questioned LinkedIn's vice president of legal and digital safety about why the professional networking platform did not explicitly include antisemitism as an example of hateful or derogatory content that violated its policies.

Sherman quizzed Corrigan about whether profits were a factor in a policy change in June 2025 that relaxed 'strike thresholds' that would ban users from using the platform.

Australian Communications and Media Authority chair, Nerida O'Loughlin, was asked about a 'bizarre limitation' on the media watchdog which prevents it from investigating complaints about streaming content.

O'Loughlin said that rules applied to broadcasting services should be the same when they are delivered online.