Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended himself against insults from US tech billionaire Elon Musk. Online platforms have “a social responsibility,” said Albanese. “If Mr Musk doesn’t understand that, it says more about him than about my government.” Musk had called the government in Canberra “fascists” because of a planned law against misinformation by online services such as X.
The law introduced into parliament by the Australian government on Thursday enables it to impose heavy fines on tech giants. These can amount to up to five percent of the companies’ annual turnover if they violate their online security obligations. “Fascists,” Musk wrote in response on his online service X.
Musk’s long-standing dispute with the Australian government appears to be revived. In response to a report on Australian broadcaster Channel Nine, the Minister for Public Services, Bill Shorten, accused Musk of presenting himself as a “champion of free speech” when it is in Musk’s “commercial interest” – “and if he doesn’t like it, he will shut it all down.”
X blocked in Brazil
The Australian Internet regulator had already taken legal action against X in the first half of the year for publishing videos and audio recordings of a knife attack. However, a federal court ruled in X’s favor on May 13, after which the regulator dropped its legal action against the platform.
Musk, a right-wing Trump supporter and self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups around the world. In Brazil, X was effectively blocked after the company ignored court orders. Musk then called the judge in charge, Alexandre de Moraes, an “evil dictator posing as a judge.”
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On Friday, the Brazilian Supreme Court announced that Moraes had ordered the transfer of almost three million euros in blocked funds from accounts belonging to X and the satellite internet service Starlink, which is also owned by Musk, to the state treasury. According to the court, this is to be used to pay the fines incurred by X. Moraes had previously frozen the assets of the two companies.
On the subject
Z+ (subscription required); Elon Musk: Genius and Madness
Dispute over X: Elon Musk vs. Brazil
