Elon vs Australia
Billionaire Elon Musk has become entangled in a feud with Australia's online safety regulator — and the prime minister — just as his biggest company Tesla faces urgent challenges.
It was only seven years ago that Elon Musk won Australians over by building the world’s biggest solar battery in Adelaide. Ever the eccentric billionaire, Musk theatrically promised to complete the project in 100 days or do it for free (and he succeeded). If only, Tesla investors must be thinking, he could keep that level of focus today.
Musk is feuding with Australia over eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant’s demand that X, née Twitter, remove videos of the recent Wakeley church stabbing. Grant has been supported by Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton alike. Musk is resisting what he calls censorship.
Basic details still need to be cleared up. Inman Grant says she requested X take down videos of the attack, which was live streamed. Musk claims he has been asked to remove commentary around the incident too, breaching free speech scruples. Though amenable to blocking the video itself in Australia, he objects to hiding it from the rest of the world — to stop "one country from controlling the entire internet".
Whether the eSafety Commissioner has authority over terroristic Australian imagery being broadcast overseas is one of many questions to be answered. As we reported today, the case is unprecedented. It is the first major test of the eSafety Commissioner, formed in 2015, and will potentially set a precedent for what the commissioner can demand and what penalties they can seek.
