Elon Musk Labels Country’s Government “Fascists” Over Proposed Free Speech Crackdown

The Australian government proposed legislation to fine social media companies 5% of their global revenue for failing to crack down on so-called misinformation.

“The government said it would make tech platforms set codes of conduct governing how they stop dangerous falsehoods spreading, to be approved by a regulator. The regulator would set its own standard if a platform failed to do so, then fine companies for non-compliance,” Reuters reports.

Elon Musk responded to the reports by labeling Australia’s Labor government “fascists.”

Fascists https://t.co/NQcR9justJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2024

Per Reuters:

The legislation, to be introduced in parliament on Thursday, targets false content that hurts election integrity or public health, calls for denouncing a group or injuring a person, or risks disrupting key infrastructure or emergency services.

The bill is part of a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown by Australia, where leaders have complained that foreign-domiciled tech platforms are overriding the country’s sovereignty, and comes ahead of a federal election due within a year.

Already Facebook owner Meta has said it may block professional news content if it is forced to pay royalties, while X, formerly Twitter, has removed most content moderation since being bought by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.

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In response to Musk’s remarks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the SpaceX CEO needs to realize X “has a social responsibility.”

“If Mr Musk doesn’t understand that, that says more about him than it does about my government,” he said, according to The Guardian.

“Far left fascists love censorship,” Musk commented.

Far left fascists love censorship https://t.co/9oMb5Wemcm

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 14, 2024

From The Guardian:

Musk, who owns the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, made the comments about new legislation aimed at tackling deliberate lies spread on social media, which could see social media companies fined up to 5% of their annual turnover.

Musk responded to a post on X about Australia’s measures by simply posting: “Fascists”.

Musk has clashed with the Australian government multiple times over the past year, including over requests for X to take down clips of a Sydney bishop allegedly being stabbed.

In April the eSafety commissioner ordered X to remove the graphic content and initiated proceedings in the federal court to have the material taken down. In June the eSafety commissioner discontinued the proceedings, but a separate administrative appeals tribunal review of the topic is expected to be heard in October.

During the months-long saga, Musk accused the government of suppressing free speech.

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This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.