Elon Musk has escalated his conflict with the Australian government, advocating for the incarceration of a senator and voicing criticism of Australia’s gun laws. This follows a court directive to remove a violent video from his social media platform, X.
On Tuesday, an X user posted a clip of Australian Sen. Jacqui Lambie, who deleted her account and encouraged other politicians to follow suit. Lambie criticized Musk for his lack of social conscience and suggested he should be jailed. ‘…quite frankly, the power that that man has because of that platform that he’s on, it’s got to stop. It has absolutely got to stop. But leaving that out for our kids to see, for people that were family and friends out there and just letting that run on there, once again, that bloke has no conscience. He’s an absolute friggin disgrace, and there’s nothing else to say about Elon Musk,’ Lambie said.
Musk responded to the post, saying, ‘Absolutely. She is an enemy of the people of Australia.’
Musk’s disagreement with Australian authorities heightened after a federal court demanded his social media platform, X, to temporarily stop displaying a video showing a knife assault on an Assyrian bishop. This order led Musk to accuse Australia’s leaders of internet censorship.
Musk extended his criticism to Australia’s 1996 gun buy-back and registration scheme, endorsing a post that alleged the scheme was designed to prevent resistance against its ‘fascist government’. Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neill accused social media companies of inciting ‘civil division, social unrest’ and criticized Musk for legally defending the right to display alleged terrorist content on his platform. A hearing to decide the permanence of the takedown order is scheduled for May 10.
