Elon Musk and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese clash over ordering the deletion of an X post about a church stabbing.
Australia and Elon Musk have escalated their war of words over censorship after an Australian court ordered social media platform X to remove footage of a church stabbing.
An Australian judge ruled on Monday that Company X must block users around the world from accessing a video of a knife attack on an Assyrian Christian bishop in Sydney, after the country's internet watchdog sought an injunction. It was decided that it would not.
The Federal Court in Sydney has been temporarily suspended after Company X said it would challenge eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant to remove posts related to last week's attack on Maru Marie Emmanuel. approved a worldwide ban.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that his government was ready to take on Musk, labeling him “an arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law but above common sense.” said.
“The eSafety Commissioner's job is to protect the interests of Australians, and the idea that someone would go to court for the right to post violent content on a platform is a no-brainer,” he said. “Social media has to come with social responsibility. Mr. Musk hasn't shown anything,” Albanese told public broadcaster ABC.
Mr Albanese previously denied that Mr X's decision to challenge the eSafety commissioner's notice was “unusual” and that the issue was a free speech issue.
Musk, who bought the platform officially known as Twitter in 2022, said on Tuesday he intends to fight the court order.
“Our concern is that if any country is allowed to censor content from all countries, as Australia's eSafety Commissar is calling for, then no country will be able to control the entire internet. It's about what can be stopped,'' Musk said on X.
“The content in question has already been censored in Australia, pending legal appeal, and is only stored on servers in the United States.”
Musk previously posted a meme that made it seem like X was a supporter of free speech and other social media platforms that support censorship and propaganda, saying, “Don't take my word for it, Prime Minister of Australia.'' Please ask!'' she captioned it.
Don't just take my word for it, just ask the Prime Minister of Australia. pic.twitter.com/ZJBKrstStQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
The Australian government has accused social media posts related to the attack on Emmanuel of inflaming community tensions in multicultural Sydney.
Under the Online Safety Act passed in 2021, Australia is at the forefront of efforts to hold tech companies accountable for the content posted on their platforms.
Mr Emmanuel, a prominent conservative leader of the Assyrian Church of Christ Good Shepherd in Wakeley, Sydney's west, suffered lacerations to his head when he was attacked during a mass service broadcast online last Monday.
More than 50 police officers were injured and 20 police cars were damaged in the riot outside the church.
Emanuel, who survived the attack, released a message last week saying he had forgiven his attacker and said he was “fine and recovering quickly.”
Police on Friday charged a 16-year-old boy with terrorism charges in connection with the stabbing.
