- Elon Musk has been criticized by an Australian minister for refusing to delete X’s posts about a stabbing.
- Tanya Plibersek told 7News that Musk was a “selfish billionaire” after Musk resisted the calls.
- Posts about the attack on social media contained a lot of misinformation, the Guardian reported.
An Australian minister has called Elon Musk a “selfish billionaire” for his refusal to cut X number of jobs.
The messages included comments on the assassination of Sydney-based Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel which occurred last week. Video clips of the attack have since circulated on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s Minister for Environment and Water, made the remarks on news channel 7News after the stabbing was captured on the church’s livestream and shared on X, according to the Guardian .
Plibersek said Monday: “It’s beyond belief, isn’t it, that this selfish billionaire thinks it’s more important for him to show what he wants on that he wants rather than respecting the victims of crimes. “
In a post, X’s global government affairs account said it had received a “demand” from Australia’s e-security commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, or face a “daily fine of AUD785,000.”
Musk responded in an X post on Friday: “Australian censorship commissioner demands global content bans.
According to the Guardian, significant misinformation was spread on social media after the attack, following which a riot broke out.
X’s owner, Musk, has argued that the platform is a site for freedom of expression since it acquired the company, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022.
Most recently, the billionaire resisted calls from a top Brazilian judge to ban accounts spreading election misinformation and associated with the far right.
Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes responded and said the court would investigate Musk and he would face a fine of about $20,000 per day for each blocked account reinstated in Brazil, the Associated Press reported .
X has already taken action and removed some accounts, such as in January when it banned an account linked to Hamas’ military wing. But for the most part, Musk has resisted removing content from the platform because he believes it could restrict free speech.
In an in-depth interview with Don Lemon last month, he defended his stance on X’s content moderation policies and said: “Moderation is a propaganda word for censorship. »
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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