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An Australian cabinet minister on Friday rejected X Corp owner Elon Musk’s allegation that the government intended to control all Australians' access to the internet through legislation that would ban young children from social media.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Musk’s criticism was “unsurprising” after the government introduced to Parliament on Thursday legislation that would fine platforms including X up to 150 million Australian dollars ($133 million) if they allow children under age 16 to hold social media accounts.
“The idea that Elon Musk is not delighted with our steps to try and protect kids online is not an especially big surprise to us, nor does it trouble us greatly,” Chalmers told reporters.
The spat continues months of open hostility between the Australian government and the tech billionaire over regulators’ efforts to reduce public harm from social media.
Parliament could pass legislation as soon as next week that would oblige X, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit and Instagram to ban young children from their platforms.
The legislation introduced on Thursday will be debated by lawmakers in Parliament on Monday.
Musk responded to the legislation’s introduction by posting on his platform, “Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.”
Asked if that was the government’s intention, Chalmers replied, “Of course not.”
“Elon Musk having that view about protecting kids online is entirely unsurprising to us. He’s expressed similar views before,” Chalmers said.
“Our job is not to come up with a social media policy to please Elon Musk. Our job is to put in place the necessary protection for kids online,” Chalmers added.
In April, Musk accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge temporarily ruled that X must block users worldwide from accessing a video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded by describing Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who considered himself above the law and was out of touch with the public.
Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, the online safety watchdog who brought the court case against X, has said the legal battle led to online attacks against her and her family, including the release online of personal information without her permission, known as doxxing.
She said Musk had “issued a dog whistle to 181 million users around the globe” which resulted in her receiving death threats.
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11 Comments
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dutch
Australia absolutely plans to install a social credit score for the internet.
Not surprising since most of those politicians have sold out to China.
fxgai
I don’t think that is a function or responsibility of government at all.
Zaphod
Contradiction in terms? Verifiable ID to access means by definition control of access. This cabinet minister is trying to have it both ways.
WoodyLee
Every nation has it's own Laws and Regulations, Mr. Musk does not lead any and probably can't but he is good at what he does best ' TECH " and he should stick with it and keep the governing to someone else.
WoodyLee
""Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Musk’s criticism was “unsurprising” after the government introduced to Parliament on Thursday legislation that would fine platforms including X up to 150 million Australian dollars ($133 million) if they allow children under age 16 to hold social media accounts.""
CONGRATS Australia.
Blacksamurai
No, you're confusing Australia with the hard left Australian Government that is facing an election before the end of May next year. Many Australians see this as just another pre election stunt to hide the fact they stink like skunks to many there. Their reckless public spending to try and stiff the next govt that comes in by loading it up with their pet left wing public service appointments and expanding the bureaucracy has fuelled inflation and interest rates. Now comes this latest stunt.
The 'treasurer' Chalmers and his angry buddy Anthony Albanese get all bent outta shape by any relevant criticism of the way this govt has divided Australian society through playing identity politics like those in the USA except Australia has no excuse having only 26 million people. Their approach to the social media problem of young immature users is to replace these kids' parents with the state - a lot of the problem there and elsewhere is because parents just don't want to be parents anymore. It's always somebody else's fault or problem that their children get caught up in dysfunction.
Ricky Kaminski13
As an Aussie , not a labor fan (nor the identity politics, they like to play with) am also a fan of the Muskman, but on this one I’d like to give the labor government the benefit of the doubt. It may be seen as a political stunt from a struggling government as per the comments above, but someone had to pick up the ball and at least try and restrict child access to these social media sites that are doing so much damage to their young brains and mental health. It maybe impossible but it’s a worth a shot and I believe represents a step in the right direction. Doing nothing may have disastrous results for an entire generation.
Being able to put partisanship aside it makes me proud to see my country having a real run at a seriously difficult problem. Also feel blessed to have had a childhood running around the bush, climbing trees and getting into mischief.
A big gray zone with no easy answers, so will watch, listen and learn and see how the debate plays out.
Peter Neil
sometimes i wish musk would just shut up and go to mars… by himself.
dutch
we know how you feel Peter.
Elon Musk almost singlehandedly saved the world from the abyss of communist totalitarianism.
You guys got sooooooo close.
But are soooo far away now.
Peter Neil
musk just trying to curry favor so his citizenship doesn’t get revoked from lying on his application. the part about have you ever been in the country illegally.
american success story - from illegal alien to being a bro of a convicted felon.
BakaFugu
Lived in Australia for 25 years, rule of thumb when it comes to the government. Never chalk up to evil what can just as easily be chalked up to stupidity.