“They might drape themselves in the Australian flags and call themselves patriots but there’s nothing patriotic about worshipping a failed foreign regime led by one of history’s greatest losers. The real patriots fought and died defeating Nazism.”

eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it was inevitable that a platform would become “toxic and less safe” if the company cut staff in charge of social responsibility.

“You’re really creating a perfect storm,” she said. “If you let the worst offenders back on while at the same time significantly reducing trust and safety personnel whose job it is to protect users from harm,there are clear concerns about the implications for the safety of users.”

Inman Grant abandoned a case against X last year in which eSafety tried to force Musk’s platform to remove allvideos of the Wakeley church stabbing,prompting Musk to label the Australian government anti-free speech “fascists”.

Right-wing populist sentiment has been growing on X,and its owner,Musk,has thrown his support behind US President Donald Trump and right-wing causes in the United Kingdom and Germany,raising concern about Musk’s interference in the domestic politics of sovereign nations.

Musk was chastised by thechairman of the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre this week after he told a far-right German party gathering that the country needed to “move beyond” the “guilt” of the past.

There has been unprecedented growth in Australia’s previously censored right-wing community since Musk’s takeover of X,according to former Liberal staffer John Macgowan,who follows the movement closely.

The network includes anti-immigration influencers such as Jordan Knight and a popular news service calledThe Noticer that often covers crimes committed by immigrants and reports on the actions of the NSN. Some of the far-right figures have been clashing with moremainstream right-wingers including Rukshan Fernando,a prominent anti-COVID lockdown influencer who has spoken out against white supremacist views.

“The reason Davis,Cottrell and Sewell are doing such big numbers is they offer young men becoming politically engaged for the first time in their lives what they’re not getting from mainstream right-wing politics:authenticity,sincerity and,importantly,action,” Macgowan said.

“Eighteen-year-old guys who’ve been engaging with content from the US these last few years don’t want to join the Liberal Party and eat scones while being regaled with tales of John Howard’s glory days.”

“The politicians,the academics and the media think these guys are bugs to be squashed but they’re actually your competition. If you don’t compete with them for the audience,in 10 years,maybe less,some of them will be in parliament,and the Australian establishment will have the same kind of meltdown the American one did over MAGA.”

Academic Josh Roose,a Deakin University associate professor who studies political violence,said there was a spike of extremist activity on X and argued much of it was illegal under federal laws banning racial discrimination and displaying hate symbols such as swastikas.

South Australia Police deleted a post about theneo-Nazi Australia Day march after it was swamped with posts praising Hitler and Nazism,and vilifying migrants,prompting the force to issue a statement defending its decision to seize on the march and criticising racist remarks on its page.

Roose said some Australian politicians on the fringe of the right had been engaging with elements of the new nationalist right online movement.

“What these actors are seeking to do is widen the Overton window,to shape political discourse through extreme acts,to normalise their presence,to attract and recruit young men,” Roose said.

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