Elon Musk condemns Australian government’s misinformation legislation

September 13, 2024 TruthUSA

The Australian Parliament recently introduced legislation addressing misinformation and disinformation.

A conflict has arisen between the Australian government and Elon Musk regarding the country’s misinformation and disinformation bill.

This development occurred after the Federal government introduced a Misinformation and Disinformation legislation (pdf) into the parliament on Sept. 12.

According to the proposed legislation, social media companies could be fined up to 5 percent of their global revenue for not censoring misinformation that causes significant harm online.

In response to the news of potential fines for social media companies, Musk posted a single word, “fascists,” on Sept. 12 (U.S. time).

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones of the Australian government reacted on Sept. 13 (Australian time), stating, “This is crackpot stuff. This is about sovereignty, and whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe, safe from scammers, safe from criminals,” Jones told the ABC.

He stated that it is unreasonable to claim that standard laws on defamation, criminal activities, and false information do not apply online.

“I can’t see how Elon Musk, or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it’s ok to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year, publishing deep fake material, publishing child pornography, live streaming murder scenes. I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about?” Jones said.

The government’s misinformation law (pdf), which is up for debate again in October, has drawn criticism for being an assault on Australians’ right to free speech.

The legislation would provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with new powers to tackle the dissemination of “misinformation and disinformation” that causes serious harm.

Public Health, Economy, and Government Could Fall Under ‘Misinformation’ Causing Serious Harm

Misinformation is defined as content that contains information that is reasonably verifiable as false, misleading, and deceptive.

According to the legislation, serious harm includes harm to the government, electoral process, and public health.

“Serious harm is harm to the operation or integrity of a Commonwealth, State, Territory, or local government electoral or referendum process,” the Bill states.

It also includes harm to public health in Australia, the vilification of groups based on various factors, and damage to critical infrastructure, emergency services, and the economy.

However, exemptions are provided for professional news content, parody or satire, and content for academic, artistic, scientific, or religious purposes.

The latest confrontation with Musk follows the eSafety commissioner’s discontinuation of proceedings in Federal Court against X Corp in June.

Coalition Will ‘Stand Up for Free Speech’

Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman stated that the Coalition will scrutinize the legislation to protect free speech rights of Australians.

Nationals Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan expressed concerns about the definition of harm in response to the Bill.

“The government’s Misinformation Bill defines harm as damage to the government. The Misinformation Bill is about protecting them, not you,” he said in one post.

“Now we get to the part of the Misinformation Bill which really shows what it is really about,” he said in another post to X.

“You can’t post stuff that causes serious harm to the efficacy of preventative health measures in Australia.”

Meanwhile, the Libertarian Party plans a public rally on Sept. 28 to oppose Albanese’s Misinformation and Disinformation Bill.

“They are erecting an East German-style surveillance state. They want to treat us like farm animals,” NSW Libertarian MLC John Ruddick said.

“Federal Labor has introduced the most insidious bill since Federation.”

The Institute of Public Affairs criticized the legislation as an attack on Australians’ right to free speech.

“Misinformation legislation introduced into federal parliament today represents a chilling assault on every Australian’s right to free speech,” said John Storey, Director of Law and Policy at the Institute of Public Affairs.

“The new Bill broadens provisions to censor speech, which even the government’s fatally flawed first draft did not include.”

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