ELON MUSK VS AUSTRALIA: WHY GEOBLOCKING, CENSORSHIP, AND MORE ARE AT STAKE
Elon Musk is entangled in more than a war of words with the government of Australia. Tensions have escalated, leading to a war of words and proposed legal actions. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called Musk an arrogant billionaire, a government secretary said that the Tesla CEO should be in jail. We explain what the conflict is all about
How it all started
On April 15, a bishop was stabbed during a church service in Sydney. The service was being live-streamed and the graphic video was circulated on X. Soon after that, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner issued notices to X and Meta invoking the Online Safety Act. The notices demanded the removal of what was classified as “class 1” material within 24 hours. Class 1 material is all content that depicts violent acts in great detail. The notice also made it clear it was related to two incidents — one at Bondi Junction Westfield and the other involving the stabbing in the church.
What X and Musk have to say
X, formerly known as Twitter, refused to comply with the eSafety commissioner’s request to take down content related to the church stabbing. Musk publicly criticised the commissioner, labelling her the “Australian censorship commissar.”
He further criticised the Australian PM as well. “Well, no president, prime minister or judge has authority over all of Earth!”, said Musk in a post on X. He said that while X adheres to the laws of countries in those countries, “but it would be improper to extend one country’s rulings to other countries.”
Musk also said that if Albanese wants to “to censor things in other countries, he should bring a legal action to bear in those countries.”
The billionaire said that it’s unfair for any country to demand censorship of content for all other countries. “Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian ‘eSafety Commissar’ is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?”, he said in a post on X.
Interestingly, the Australian government had asked both Meta and X to remove the video. Meta complied with the rules. “When we received the “Class 1 Removal Notice” from the eSafety Commissioner in relation to the Wakeley attack, we quickly responded to confirm that we had already been taking action in relation to the content that was the subject of the Notice,” said the company in a blog post.
What Australia wants X to do
Australia's eSafety Commissioner, the country's online safety watchdog, demanded X remove the video entirely, not just block it for Australian users. It is something that Musk doesn’t want to do. He argued that removing the video for everyone sets a dangerous precedent, allowing any country to dictate global content moderation. He also claimed the video is only "censored" for Australia, not deleted.
Australian senator Jacqui Lambie deleted her account on X and called other politicians to do the same. She further claimed that Musk had “no social conscience or conscience whatsoever” and said that he should be jailed. Musk fired back in a post on X and called her that Lambie was “an enemy of the people of Australia” and should be in jail for censoring free speech on X.
The Musk vs Australia conflict brings back the issue of free speech, censorship and internet governance. On their part, Musk and X have made it clear that they will follow the rules of the country they are operating in — something which they have done in Australia as well. Musk’s ranting and digs aside, the video has been temporarily taken down by X. A court is expected to announce a verdict on whether the video should be permanently taken down in Australia or not. That might not be end of the matter as Musk the self-proclaimed champion of free speech is likely to have a lot more to say on it.
Also read: Tesla could start selling Optimus robots by the end of next year: Elon Musk
Elon Musk's X to launch a television app, challenging YouTube
2024-04-24T08:36:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd