Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called Elon Musk an ‘arrogant billionaire’ in an escalating spat over X’s resistance to remove footage of a terrorist church stabbing of Orthodox Bishop Emmanuel of the Good Shepherd Church.
The absurd detail is that Australian authorities want the content removed for people all over the world – which they clearly have no jurisdiction over!
BBC reported:
“On Monday, an Australian court ordered Mr Musk’s social media firm – formerly called Twitter – to hide videos of last week’s attack in Sydney. X previously said it would comply ‘pending a legal challenge’.”
The Prime Minister’s criticism comes after Musk used a meme to ridicule the Australian government’s thirst for censorship.
Albanese told the press that Mr. Musk ‘thinks he’s above the law but also above common decency.’
“Last week Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, an independent regulator, threatened X and other social media companies with hefty fines if they did not remove videos of the stabbing at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church, which police have called a terror attack. X has argued the order is ‘not within the scope of Australian law’.”
The eSafety commissioner sought a court injunction after complaining that X was allowing users outside Australia to continue accessing footage.
“‘I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and are trying to argue their case’, Mr Albanese told a press briefing.
In a subsequent series of online posts, Mr. Musk wrote: ‘I’d like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one’. Another depicted a Wizard of Oz-style path to ‘freedom’ leading to an X logo.”
Don’t take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM! pic.twitter.com/ZJBKrstStQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
Musk also criticized eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant personally, describing her as the ‘Australian censorship commissar.’
“Mr. Albanese defended Ms. Inman Grant, saying she was protecting Australians. ‘Social media needs to have social responsibility with it. Mr Musk is not showing any’, he said.”
The platform was given 24 hours to comply with Monday evening’s injunction, and a further hearing into the matter is expected in the coming days.
Albanese’s war against freedom of speech is not limited to X, as he now seeks to have all social media strike down MEMES of him.
Watch: Australia’s Albanese is at war with MEMES, now.
Australia’s Albanese is at war with MEMES, now pic.twitter.com/Zi4YfyEwlS
— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 24, 2024
