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Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday called the Australian government “fascists” over plans to crack down on misinformation online. Social media companies could face fines up to 5% of their global revenue if they enable the spread of misinformation, under a law proposed Thursday by Australia’s Labor government. Musk, who considers himself a free speech advocate, made the one-word comment in a repost on his social media platform X of an article about the proposed legislation. “Elon Musk’s had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra,” Government Services Minister Bill Shorten told the Australian network Channel Nine on Friday. The case is one of several that are ongoing between X and the Australian regulator, eSafety.

Persons: Elon Musk, ”, Musk, “ Elon Musk’s, Stephen Jones, Elon, ” Jones, Michelle Rowland, X, Anthony Albanese Organizations: Tech, Social, Australia’s Labor, Government, Australian, Australian Broadcasting Corp, “, ”, Twitter Locations: Australia

☆ Elon Musk calls Australian government 'fascists' over misinformation law
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-13 | by ( Peter Guo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday called the Australian government "fascists" over plans to crack down on misinformation online. "Elon Musk's had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra," Government Services Minister Bill Shorten told the Australian network Channel Nine on Friday. "I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about?" At the time, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Musk an "arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law." The Australian regulator later dropped its legal effort after a federal court refused to extend a temporary order to block the graphic content.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Elon Musk's, Stephen Jones, Elon, Jones, Michelle Rowland, X, Anthony Albanese Organizations: Tech, Social, Australia's Labor, Government, Australian, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Twitter Locations: Australia

☆ Australia plans minimum age for social media use, angering digital rights advocates
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia plans to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media citing concerns about mental and physical health, drawing a backlash from digital rights advocates who warn the measure could drive dangerous online activity underground. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government would run an age verification trial before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year. The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media. Representatives of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, which has a self-imposed minimum age of 13, YouTube owner Alphabet and TikTok were not immediately available for comment. Australia has one of the world’s most online populations with more than four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media, according to government and tech industry figures.

Persons: Anthony Albanese, Albanese, “, ” Albanese, ”, Daniel Angus, Jordy Kaufman Organizations: Australian Broadcasting Corp, European Union, Meta, Facebook, Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research, Swinburne University, University of Sydney Locations: SYDNEY, Australia

☆ Australia plans a minimum age limit for social media use
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-10 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Australia intends to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media, citing concerns about mental and physical health. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government would run an age verification trial before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year. The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media. Australia has one of the world’s most online populations, with four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media, according to tech industry figures. But the inquiry has also heard concerns about whether an age limit would inadvertently harm younger people by encouraging them to hide their online activity.

Persons: Anthony Albanese, Albanese, “, ” Albanese, TikTok, ”, Daniel Angus, we’re Organizations: Australian Broadcasting Corp, European Union, Meta, Facebook, YouTube, University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research Locations: Australia

☆ Australia drops legal fight against X over church stabbing video
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —Australia’s eSafety commissioner has dropped her legal bid to force Elon Musk’s social media site X to hide a violent video of a church stabbing in Sydney from global users. The eSafety commissioner had wanted X to hide the video for users beyond Australian borders. The incident set off a riot outside the church that authorities said was stoked by the rapid distribution of the video online. “The Video is, and at all material times has been, widely accessible to persons in Australia other than on the X platform, including in its full form on other social media services and various websites,” court documents said. The Assyrian Orthodox cleric was quoted in court filings as supporting the distribution of the video as an exercise in free speech.

Persons: Australia CNN — Australia’s, Elon, Julie Inman Grant, X, Inman Grant, ”, Musk, ’, Joanne Gray, ” Gray, it’s, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, eSafety, she’d Organizations: Australia CNN, University of Sydney, Good Shepherd, Australian Jewish Association, Australia’s, ABC Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Sydney

☆ Australia drops case against Elon Musk's social media platform X over church stabbing footage
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Sam Meredith | In Samuelmeredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Australia on Wednesday announced it had dropped its legal battle against Elon Musk's X to have graphic footage of a church stabbing in Sydney removed from the social media platform. The dispute was widely seen as a test case for the Australian government's ability to enforce its online safety standards on the social media giants. Julie Inman-Grant, Commissioner of Australia's online safety regulator, said in a statement that after weighing "multiple considerations," she decided that discontinuing the proceedings would "likely achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children." I stand by my investigators and the decisions eSafety made," Inman-Grant said, referencing Australia's independent regulator for online safety. Last month, the Musk-owned social media platform won a reprieve in Australia when a court refused to extend a temporary order blocking videos of a Sydney church stabbing globally.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Elon Musk's, Julie Inman, eSafety, Inman, Grant, Musk, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, Australia's Organizations: SpaceX, X Holdings Corp, Milken Institute's Global, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Wednesday, Grant, X's Global Government Affairs Locations: Beverly Hills , California, Australia, Sydney, Australian

☆ X CEO Linda Yaccarino accuses Australia of 'overreach' after judge lifts ban on stabbing video
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, France — X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Friday hit out at Australia after a face off with online safety regulators. It comes after the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X last week won a reprieve in Australia as a court refused to extend a temporary order blocking videos of a Sydney church stabbing. In a talk onstage at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Yaccarino accused Australia of overreach over the dispute. "The good news is that the people prevailed," Yaccarino, the former global advertising chief at CNBC parent company NBCUniversal, said. "We're happy to be that beacon of light and that place for truth."

Persons: Linda Yaccarino, Elon, Yaccarino Organizations: Elon Musk, eSafety, CNBC Locations: PARIS, France, Australia, Sydney, Paris, overreach

☆ Musk wins court reprieve in fight against Australian government over church stabbing videos
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's social media platform X won a reprieve Monday after an Australian court refused to extend a temporary order to block videos of a Sydney church stabbing. Following the incident, the country's eSafety Commissioner was granted a temporary legal injunction ordering X to hide posts that showed footage of the attack. In an interview last month, Albanese said Musk thinks "he's above Australian law" and called him out for his "arrogance." "The e-Safety Commissioner has made a ruling. Still, online safety "requires platforms to do everything practical and reasonable to minimize the harm it may cause to Australians," the eSafety Commissioner added.

Persons: Elon Musk, The Beverly Hilton, Elon, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, Musk, Anthony Albanese, Albanese, " Albanese Organizations: SpaceX, Tesla, The Beverly, eSafety, Tech Locations: Beverly Hills , California, U.S, Sydney

☆ Elon Musk vs Australia: Fight heats up over Sydney church stabbing video on X
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The country’s e-safety commissioner ordered social media giants to take it down. Australia wants X to remove the video completely, not just hide it from Australian users who could circumvent a local ban by using virtual private networks. With her message to Musk, Australian Senator Jacqui Lambie posted an image of herself in army fatigues taken at a Veteran Mentors' Junior Leadership camp in January. President David Adler told CNN he hadn’t been asked to take it down, either by X or Australia’s e-safety commissioner. In a statement Wednesday, Australia’s eSafety commissioner said the takedown request wasn’t designed to stifle discussion about the church attack.

Persons: Elon Musk, that’s, X, ’, Anthony Albanese, Jacqui Lambie, “, hadn’t, ”, fatigues, AJA, David Adler, Adler, AJA hasn’t, Krissy Barrett, Reece Kershaw, Marcus Hoyne, Bishop, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, Joanne Gray, Grzegorz Wajda, Gray, Musk, Musk’s, Australia’s, Lambie’s Organizations: Australia CNN, Christian Church, Australian, Leadership, Australian Jewish Association, CNN, ” CNN, Joint Counter, Counter, New South Wales Police Seven, Australian Federal Police, AFP, Australia’s Security Intelligence Organisation, National Press Club, Musk, Court, Bishop Mar, Good Shepherd, University of Sydney, European Jewish Association, X Corp Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Sydney, Tasmania, United States, New, Australia’s, Krakow, Poland

☆ Elon Musk Clashes With Australian Court Over Violent Videos on X
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Kate Conger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An Australian court on Wednesday extended an injunction ordering the social media platform X to remove videos depicting the recent stabbing of a bishop, setting the country’s judicial system up for a clash with the company’s owner, Elon Musk, who has decried the court’s order as censorship. Videos of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a church service on April 15 quickly started circulating on X, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, a regulator overseeing online safety, ordered X and other social media platforms to remove posts showing the video the next day. Other platforms complied, and X blocked the content for Australian viewers. That order was extended on Wednesday until a May 10 hearing, and X faces potential daily fines of roughly $509,000 for noncompliance.

Persons: Elon Musk, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, Australia’s, Musk, ’, ” Locations: Australia, USA

☆ Elon Musk is waging war on multiple fronts — and now Australia is in the firing line
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Musk has been in public spats with Brazil's Supreme Court and the Australian government this year. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Musk said on Friday: "The Australian censorship commissar is demanding global content bans." Musk said on X the content had been "censored" for Australia, "pending legal appeal, and it is stored only on servers in the USA." Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Persons: Elon, Musk, —, That's, he's, Mar Mari Emmanuel, Australia's, Tanya Plibersek, Alexandre de Moraes, de Moraes, Brazil's, De Moraes, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zelenskyy's, Donald Trump Jr Organizations: Twitter, Brazil's, Service, Reuters, Australia's eSafety, BBC News, SpaceX, Getty, Business Locations: Sydney, Australian, Australia's, Australia, USA, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Ireland, Dublin

☆ Sydney: Stabbed bishop delivers first message from hospital as malicious disinformation spreads
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The rapid spread of disinformation fomented an already volatile situation and days later authorities, faith groups and the bishop are still trying to calm community tension. But regulators are finding it much harder to act against social media platforms for the disinformation that spread online after the attacks – especially after the mass stabbing in the eastern suburb of Bondi. After the church attack, unconfirmed speculation also swirled about the faith of the alleged attacker and his motive. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with terrorism over the alleged stabbing of the bishop, police said Thursday. Video Ad Feedback Police: Australia church stabbing was 'terrorist incident' 04:31 - Source: CNNSystem of self-regulationBut stamping out some of the hateful comments that spread online has not been so easy.

Persons: Australia CNN —, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, Jesus, ” Emmanuel, –, ”, Chris Minns, “ I’m, Steven Saphore, Australia’s, Meta, Facebook –, Marc Owen Jones, Russia influencer, Seven, Bondi, Jones, Hamad, won’t, he’s “, who’s, “, Elon Musk, That’s, Michelle Rowland, that’s, ” Rowland, Terry Flew Organizations: Australia CNN, Good Shepherd, State, Reuters, Facebook, NSW Police, West, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Police, CNN, Digital Industry Group Inc, Elon, Twitter, ABC Radio Thursday, Digital Communication, University of Sydney, European, Thursday NSW Police Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, NSW, Westfield, Bondi, Russia, Australian, Queensland, Gaza, Qatar, European Union

☆ Australia issues $386,000 fine against X over failure to cooperate with child sex abuse probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Australia issued a fine of $610,500 Australian dollars ($386,000) on Monday against the company formerly known as Twitter for “falling short” in disclosing information on how it tackles child sex abuse content, in yet another setback for the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. Just days earlier, the European Commission formally opened an investigation into X after issuing a previous warning about disinformation and illegal content on its platform linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Australia’s e-Safety Commission, the online safety regulator, said in a statement Monday that X had failed to adequately respond to a number of questions about the way it was dealing with the problem of child abuse materials. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CNN. The American tech giant has been given a formal warning to deter it from future non-compliance, it added.

Persons: X, ”, Julie Inman Grant, Inman Grant, —, “, ” Inman Grant, Lucinda Longcroft, … Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Elon Musk, European Commission, Safety Commission, Google, YouTube, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Skype Locations: Australia, Israel, New Zealand

☆ Australia fines X, formerly Twitter, for not answering questions on child abuse content
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Australia's eSafety commissioner on Sunday fined X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, 610,500 Australian dollars, over $380,000 U.S., for failing to properly disclose information about how it polices child abuse content. The legislation requires online service providers to report how they crack down on child abuse content on their platforms. The notices had specific questions for the companies to answer about how they handle child exploitation content. According to the eSafety commissioner, X did not answer many of the questions and left "some sections entirely blank." It said it found "serious shortfalls" in how child abuse content is policed on the five platforms it filed legal notices to.

Persons: Elon Musk, Australia's, Julie Inman Grant, X Organizations: Elon, Google, NBC News, CNBC, Trust Locations: Australia

☆ Australia is threatening to fine Elon Musk's Twitter up to $475,000, saying that a third of all online hate complaints in the country come via the platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Australia's safety watchdog said Twitter is the most complained about platform in the country for online hate. There are currently an estimated 1,000 employees left at Twitter, Insider reported in May. "A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter. "eSafety research shows that nearly 1 in 5 Australians have experienced some form of online hate. One research group even found that the use of the N-word jumped by 500% on Twitter after Musk's takeover, Insider reported in October.

Persons: Elon Musk, eSafety, Musk, Vijaya Gadde, Yoel Roth, Ella Irwin, Julie Inman Grant, Twitter, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: Twitter, Morning, Elon Musk's, First Nations Australian Locations: Australia

☆ Australia says Twitter is top platform for online hate, demands explanation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, June 22 (Reuters) - An Australian cyber regulator on Thursday said it has demanded Twitter explain its handling of online hate as the microblog has become the country's most complained-about platform since new owner Elon Musk lifted bans on a reported 62,000 accounts. Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she has sent a legal notice to Twitter demanding an explanation after one-third of all complaints she received about online hate concerned Twitter, even though the platform has far fewer users than TikTok or Meta's (META.O) Facebook and Instagram. Twitter must respond to the eSafety Commissioner within 28 days or face a fine of nearly A$700,000 ($473,480) per day. Prominent indigenous television host Stan Grant had cited targeted abuse on Twitter when he announced a break from the media last month, the commissioner noted. Inman Grant said her letter called for Twitter to explain its impact assessments when reinstating banned accounts, how it engaged with communities who were subject to online hate, and how it was enforcing its own policies which ban hateful conduct.

Persons: Elon Musk, Julie Inman Grant, Inman Grant, Stan Grant, Byron Kaye, Christopher Cushing Organizations: SYDNEY, Twitter, Facebook, Reuters, Indigenous Television, Thomson Locations: Australian, Australia

☆ Fact Check-Recommendation for social media ID requirements in Australia is from 2021 and has not been implemented
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Australia has not implemented “social credit” to access social media platforms, contrary to claims online. Social media users making this claim misrepresent a broadcast that dates to April 2021 about a proposal made by a parliamentary committee looking to reduce “technology-facilitated abuse”. Reuters found no evidence that the recommendation, which proposed requiring a form of identification in order to open a social media account, has been implemented. The Department for Social Services and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The circulating news video dates to April 2021 and describes a proposal by a committee of the Australian parliament looking into domestic and sexual abuse to require identification to access social media.

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