SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been branded as "an arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law" by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. The comment has sparked a war of words before the Australian government and the 52-year-old Tesla co-founder, who has previously topped the list as the world's richest man.
Elon Musk lashed out at Anthony Albanese earlier this morning after an Australian court ordered his social media company X to remove footage of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney, and said the ruling meant any country could control "the entire internet".
Don’t take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM! pic.twitter.com/ZJBKrstStQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
During a hearing that took place overnight, Australia's Federal Court ordered X, formerly known as Twitter, to temporarily hide posts showing video footage of the incident earlier this month which saw a teenager charged with terrorism for knifing an Assyrian priest and others.
X has already blocked access to the posts for all users in Australia.
However, the Australian e-Safety Commissioner has ruled the content should be wiped from the social network — removing it for users worldwide — since it showed explicit violence.
"Does the PM think he should have jurisdiction over all of Earth?" Elon Musk wrote in a post on X, referring to prime minister Anthony Albanese. The billionaire purchased Twitter in 2022 for an eye-watering $44 billion with a declared mission to save free speech. He later rebranded the social network to X.
Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian “eSafety Commissar” is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
We have already censored the content in question for… https://t.co/aca9E4uAB7
As the spat with the Australian prime minister escalated, Musk shared a meme on the platform that showed X stood for "free speech and truth" while other social media platforms represented "censorship and propaganda". He added: "Don’t take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM!"
An Australian court has ordered X to hide some posts commenting on the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney, deepening a war of words between the social media platform's owner Elon Musk and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. Musk posted in a subsequent message to his followers on X: "If ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian 'eSafety Commissar' is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?"
Australia's federal court granted the country's cyber regulator, known as the e-Safety Commissioner, a two-day injunction requiring the social media platform to hide some posts on a knife attack last week against an Assyrian church bishop, Mar Mari Emmanuel, during a service at his church.
Albanese on Tuesday hit out at Musk, calling him an "arrogant billionaire" for pushing back against the Australian government's calls to take down the content. X had blocked the content for its users in Australia but said it would not block the posts for users outside the country, arguing that the government had no authority to dictate content its users can see globally.
Videos of the attack posted online showed the attacker, restrained by the congregation, shouting at the bishop for insulting Islam. Police have charged a 16-year-old with a terrorism offence over the attack.
The regulator had asked X to remove certain posts that publicly commented on the attack, which could include videos. A spokesperson for e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the takedown notice was for the attack footage only, and not for "commentary, public debate or other posts about this event, even those which may link to extreme violent content".
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pictured giving an address to the Leaders’ Plenary in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne back in March
REUTERS
"While it may be difficult to eradicate damaging content from the internet entirely ... eSafety requires platforms to do everything practical and reasonable to minimise the harm it may cause to Australians and the Australian community," the spokesperson added, in a statement.
Judge Geoffrey Kennett, in an after-hours hearing, ordered X to block access to the posts until Wednesday afternoon, court documents showed. The matter will be considered again tomorrow.
The Australian prime minister said social media must have social responsibility but Musk was fighting to keep violent content on his platform.
"We'll do what's necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law, but also above common decency," Albanese told national broadcaster ABC on Tuesday. "What the eSafety Commissioner is doing, is doing her job to protect the interests of Australians."
Musk had earlier called the e-Safety Commissioner the "Australian censorship commissar", drawing a rebuke from Albanese who described X's fight against removing violent content as "extraordinary".
"I'd like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one," Musk said in a post on X hours before Albanese's comments on Tuesday.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, which owns and operates Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram confirmed that it had used "internal tools" to detect and block copies of videos of the church attack and an unrelated, deadly stabbing at a shopping mall in Sydney two days earlier.
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The Californian company said it was removing posts containing "any glorification or praise" of the incidents.
Alice Dawkins, executive director of internet policy non-profit Reset.Tech Australia, said Musk's comments fit "the company's chaotic and negligent approach to the most basic user safety considerations that under previous leadership, the platform used to take seriously."
