‘Fascists’: Elon Musk slams Australia’s misinformation law after it proposes 5% penalty on revenue for non-compliance

Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and Space X founder, on Friday labelled Australia's centre-left government "fascists." This remark comes in response to the proposed legislation to impose fines on social media firms who fail to curb the spread of misinformation online.

On Thursday, Australia's Labor government, announced a new legislation in Parliament. According to this law, social media platforms could face a penalty of up to 5% of their global revenue if found permitting misinformation on their internet platforms. This marks a step towards the worldwide push to control borderless tech giants. The outspoken tech billionaire described the misinformation law with one word - "Fascists".

Tech platforms need to set codes of conduct to limit the spread of dangerous falsehoods in addition to being approved by a regulator, according to the proposed law. The regulator will fine firms for non-compliance and would set its own standard if a platform is unable to.

This development comes months after the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) owner clashed with the Australian government. X knocked the court of law in April this year to challenge a cyber regulator's order regarding the removal of some posts about the stabbing incident of a bishop in Sydney. The incident took a clumsy turn after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Elon Musk an "arrogant billionaire".

Elon Musk has strongly criticised the push against misinformation and advocates ‘free speech’. This action followed rebukes from Australian government lawmakers.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones termed Musk's comment "crackpot stuff" and said that social media platforms should not publish scam content, deepfake materials and livestream violence in the name of free speech, reported Reuters. In an interview with ABC television, the Assistant Treasurer said, “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.”

(With inputs from Reuters)