The world’s fourth-richest person rarely avoids confrontations with other prominent figures, but, increasingly, he also appears to draw the ire of national governments.
This is largely due to the fact that he owns Twitter, which has propelled him into a new sphere of world politics.
Over the past year, he has been involved in several public fights with government officials over issues including free speech, Starlink sales, and X content moderation.
Australian requirements
Musk has been criticized by the Australian government for ignoring demands to cut certain positions.
Videos and posts commenting on the assassination of the Bishop of Sydney, Mar Mari Emmanuel, were circulating on X, and the Australian government apparently wanted to remove them.
X’s Global Government Affairs Account claimed to have received a “request” from the Australian Electronic Security Commissioner to suspend certain posts or face a “daily fine of 785,000 AUD”.
Musk said Friday: “Australian censorship commissioner demands global content bans.
Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s environment minister, slammed X’s owner, calling him a “selfish billionaire.”
The Australian Federal Court has now ordered X to hide posts containing videos of the stabbing incident, Reuters reported.
Musk said on the content has been “censored” for Australia, “pending legal challenge, and is only stored on servers in the United States.”
He added: “Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content from ALL countries, which is what Australia’s “e-security commissioner” is calling for, then what is to stop one country from controlling all of ‘Internet ?
Last October, the Australian eSafety Commission fined nearly $400,000 for failing to fully describe its methods for handling material related to child sexual exploitation, media outlets including BBC News reported.
Brazilian reaction
Musk clashed with a judge on Brazil’s Supreme Court, Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The problems began after de Moraes asked Musk to block certain X accounts in Brazil, as part of an investigation into “digital militias” that he said were spreading fake news and threats against the Supreme Court of Brazil. Brazil.
Musk said that X would not comply with the request, and later alleged that de Moraes was betraying the Brazilian constitution, saying he should resign or be impeached.
De Moraes has since opened a separate investigation into Musk.
Starlink, Russia and Ukraine
Musk’s SpaceX is grappling with an ongoing saga over Russia’s alleged use of Starlink terminals during the war with Ukraine.
Russian figures have criticized Musk over these claims.
Last year, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the SpaceX founder over a report that Musk ordered his engineers to jam Starlink satellites over Crimea.
Volodymyr Zelensky. Getty Images
Musk has denied this claim and has repeatedly denied selling Starlink terminals to Russia.
Several Ukrainian MPs also criticized the billionaire after he posted a meme mocking Zelensky’s calls for more aid.
Ireland and hate speech
In Ireland, Musk has pledged to fund lawsuits opposing the country’s upcoming hate speech legislation.
He told Irish media outlet Gript that .
Musk was referring to Ireland’s upcoming Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Crime) Bill, which other public figures, including Donald Trump Jr, have criticized.
X’s European headquarters is in Dublin.
Representatives for Elon Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside of normal business hours.
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