Newsman: Tech billionaire Elon Musk has labeled the Australian government as “fascists” over proposals to fine social media companies that fail to stop the spread of misinformation online, fail to meet standards set by regulators.
Tech platforms would be required to establish codes of conduct for how to stop dangerous misinformation from spreading, which would have to be approved by a regulator. Platforms that failed to do so would be fined and required to follow a standard set by the regulator instead.
Under the proposed legislation announced on Thursday by Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, platforms could be fined up to 5 percent of global annual revenue if they allow the spread of content that is “reasonably verifiable as false, misleading or deceptive and reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm”.
“Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy. Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an option,” Rowland said.
X owner Musk late on Thursday responded to a post about the proposed law with one word: “Fascists”.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten rejected Musk’s comments, accusing the Tesla CEO of being inconsistent on freedom of speech.
“Elon Musk’s had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra. You know, when it’s, in its commercial interests, he is the champion of free speech and when it doesn’t like it, he is, you know, he’s going to shut it all down,” Shorten said in an interview on Nine Network’s Today breakfast show.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones also hit back at Musk, saying the law is a matter of national sovereignty.
“This is crackpot stuff. It really is crackpot stuff,” Jones told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes,” Jones added. “I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about?”
Musk has clashed with Australian authorities on the topic of free speech before.
