Elon Musk and the Australian government continue to trade insults as the assistant treasurer calls Musk’s comment “crackpot stuff”.
Elon Musk labeled the Australian government “fascists” in response to new legislation targeting misinformation on social media. The proposed laws could impose fines of up to 5% of annual turnover on social media companies.
In response, Bill Shorten, Australia’s minister for government services and minister for the national disability insurance scheme, speaking on Channel Nine, criticized Musk’s inconsistent position on free speech saying, “When it’s in his commercial interests, he is the champion of free speech; when he doesn’t like it, he’s going to shut it all down.”
On his part, Stephen Jones, the assistant treasurer and minister for financial services in Australia, dubbed Musk’s comment as “crackpot stuff”, stressing that the issue at hand is a matter of Australian “sovereignty”.
“Whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals,” Jones said, stressing that “for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about?”
Australia’s new misinformation legislation would grant the communications watchdog authority to oversee and regulate content on digital platforms. It could also enable the approval of an enforceable industry code of conduct or the introduction of standards for social media companies if self-regulation fails.
