Anthony Albanese's comments come amid a feud over X's reluctance to remove footage of a stabbing.

Australia’s leader has called Elon Musk an “arrogant billionaire” in an escalating feud over X’s reluctance to remove footage of a church stabbing.

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”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s criticism followed Mr Musk using a meme to accuse his government of censorship.

On Tuesday, Mr Albanese told ABC News 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.

  • Flying SquidMEnglish
    51•7 months ago

    Something that article does not mention, but should:

    But we do know that X has joined with 130 countries and many other social networks in a pledge to avoid posting terrorist content, and to remove it expeditiously.

    Ignoring The Christchurch Call

    X made that commitment in 2019 when, as Twitter, it became a supporter of The Christchurch Call – a set of 25 commitments designed to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

    The Call was developed in response to the March 2019 act of terror that saw an Australian man murder 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The murderer live-streamed his depraved acts, and those vile videos were widely shared.

    The Call requires different commitments of government and online service providers. Among those required of the latter are the following actions:

    Take transparent, specific measures seeking to prevent the upload of terrorist and violent extremist content and to prevent its dissemination on social media and similar content-sharing services, including its immediate and permanent removal, without prejudice to law enforcement and user appeals requirements, in a manner consistent with human rights and fundamental freedoms

    Days after the Call was finalized, Twitter became a signatory. Elon Musk’s renamed platform, X, is listed as a supporter of the Call and therefore committed to the document’s suggested actions.

    In December 2022, Musk met with French president Emmanuel Macron, who wrote that the billionaire “confirmed Twitter’s participation to the Christchurch Call. There is no place for terrorist and violent extremist content anywhere.”

    17 months later, it appears Musk no longer holds the views Macron conveyed. And X, it appears, is ignoring the Christchurch Call in pursuit of Musk’s maximalist definition of free speech.

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/23/australia_x_terror_video_takedown/

    • RubberDuckEnglish
      48•7 months ago

      Again proof that self regulation does not work. These big companies need to be regulated.

      • @thesystemisdownEnglish
        12•7 months ago

        They will do whatever they think they can get away with or afford in the interest of maximizing profits. Many believe that it is their primary responsibility to the shareholder.

    • @rayyyEnglish
      30•7 months ago

      Musk’s maximalist definition of free speech.

      Free speech only for those Musk deems worthy, meaning only those who support his way of thinking.

      • @[email protected]English
        25•7 months ago

        They suspended journalists and researchers who posted the identity of a neo-Nazi cartoonist after he made a direct appeal to Musk for support. It was free-speech and not against Twitter’s terms of service to post the man’s name since it was newsworthy and already in the public domain, but Musk doesn’t actually care about free speech. He cares about the right to offend and say heinous shit without being shut down or ‘canceled.’ If you attack him or his allies (even the neo-Nazi ones) then he conveniently drops the free speech crusade

        • @pivot_rootEnglish
          8•7 months ago

          “Free speech for me, but not for thee.”
          —Elon Musk