Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia has criticized Elon Musk as an "arrogant billionaire" in a dispute over Musk's social media firm, X, refusing to remove footage of a church stabbing in Sydney.
An Australian court had previously ordered X to hide the videos, and Albanese accused Musk of thinking he is above the law and common decency.
The eSafety Commissioner, an independent regulator, had threatened X and other social media companies with fines if they did not remove the videos, which police have labeled a terror attack.
X, the company in question, has refused to comply with an Australian law order to remove content, leading to the eSafety Commissioner seeking a court injunction.
The commissioner accused X of allowing users outside Australia to access the content.
X's CEO,
Elon Musk, responded with online posts defending the platform and criticizing the commissioner, referring to her as the "Australian censorship commissar" and portraying the company as a path to "freedom." Anthony Albanese, the Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Development, defended the decision to issue an injunction against
Elon Musk and his company,
Tesla, for posting allegedly harmful content on Twitter.
Albanese stated that Musk was not demonstrating social responsibility on social media, and the platform had 24 hours to comply with the injunction.
The eSafety Commissioner and
Tesla are already involved in legal proceedings regarding the platform's handling of child abuse material online.