Musk brands Australia 'fascists' after move to fine tech giants

Tech mogul Elon Musk has likened the Australian government to "fascists", attacking proposed laws that would fine social media giants for failing to stem the spread of misinformation.

Australia introduced a "combating misinformation" bill on Thursday, which includes sweeping powers to fine tech giants up to five percent of their yearly turnover for breaching online safety obligations.

"Fascists," Musk posted on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Musk's salvo threatened to rekindle his long-running spat with the Australian government.

"Elon Musk has had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra," said Government Services Minister Bill Shorten.

"When it's in his commercial interests, he is the champion of free speech. And when he doesn't like it, he's going to shut it all down," Shorten told Australian broadcaster Channel Nine.

Australia's online watchdog took Musk's company to court earlier this year, alleging it had failed to remove "extremely violent" videos that showed a Sydney preacher being stabbed.

But it abruptly dropped its attempt to force a global takedown order on X after Musk scored a legal victory in a preliminary hearing, a move he celebrated as a free speech triumph.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety commissioner and a former Twitter employee, has said Musk's takeover coincided with a rise in "toxicity and hate" on the platform.

Musk, a self-described "free speech absolutist", has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups worldwide, including in the European Union, which could decide within months to take action against X with possible fines.

In Brazil, where X has effectively been suspended after it ignored a series of court directives, Musk has responded by blasting the judge as an "evil dictator cosplaying as a judge".

Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to regulate social media platforms.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled plans earlier this week to ban children from social media until they are at least 14 years old.