Garima Sharma, Pune
Tesla CEO Elon Musk labels the Australian government as ‘fascists’ in response to their new laws that targeted misinformation on social media. On Thursday, the Labor government proposed laws that aims towards imposing fines upto 5% of their global revenue on social media if they fail to prevent the spread of information online.
The tech companies will have to establish codes of conduct to curb the dissemination of misinformation as per the requirements of the legislation and these codes will be approved by a regulator. The regulator can set its own standards and impose hefty fines if the platforms fail to comply.
Musk’s comment as a response to a post linking the Reuters story about the misinformation law has sparked a heated debate about the balance between the need to combat the growing threat to misinformation and free speech. He has been accused of being inconsistent on the issue of free speech by the Australian government officials.
As per the sources, the Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has also dismissed Elon Musk’s comment as ‘crackpot stuff’ and emphasised that the proposed legislation is a matter of national sovereignty. Jones also argued that the social media platforms should not have deepfake materials, livestream violence and scam content in the name of free speech.
The issue was also addressed by the Minister of Communications, Michelle Rowland as she stated that ignoring these issues is not a viable solution and that substantial penalties are necessary. And she also pointed out that the spread of disinformation and misinformation can pose threats to the well being, safety and the democracy of Australia..
This is not the first time that there is a battle between Musk and the Australian authorities. There have been reports of such issues also. Like in April, X (formerly Twitter) challenged a cyber regulator’s order to remove posts related to the stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to call Musk an ‘arrogant billionaire’.
As the debate continues, the communications watchdog will have powers to monitor and regulate content on social media and digital platforms by Australia’s misinformation legislation. The legislation would also allow it to approve an enforceable industry code of conduct or introduce media standards.