Australia, Elon Musk in war of words over censorship: ‘Arrogant billionaire’

Elon Musk lashed out at Australia's prime minister after a court ordered his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to take down footage of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney. The billionaire said the ruling meant any country could control “the entire internet” after Australia's Federal Court ordered to temporarily hide posts showing the video of the incident a week earlier. 

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference.(Reuters)

The social media platform said that it had already blocked the posts from Australian users. 

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What Elon Musk said on the case?

The billionaire posted a meme on the platform that showed X stood for "free speech and truth" while other social media platforms represented "censorship and propaganda".

"Don't take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM!" he wrote. In another post, he wrote that the company's "concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian 'eSafety Commissar' is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?"

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What Australian PM said on Elon Musk's remarks?

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese hit back at Elon Musk saying that the country would "do what's necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law, but also above common decency".

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"The idea that someone would go to court for the right to put up violent content on a platform shows how out-of-touch Mr Musk is," he said. 

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