Musk Criticises Australian Government’s Misinformation Bill

The Australian government and Elon Musk have entered into a war of words over the country’s misinformation and disinformation bill. This comes after the Federal government introduced Misinformation and Disinformation legislation (pdf) into parliament on Sept. 12. Under the proposed legislation, social media companies could face fines of up to 5 percent of their global revenue for failing to censor misinformation that causes serious harm online. Musk responded to news of potential fines for social media companies with a one-word post, “fascists,” on Sept. 12 (U.S. time). In response, Australian government Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones responded on Sept. 13 (Australian time), “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....