Australia’s disinformation law plan irks Elon Musk

The Australian government is set to introduce powers to fine social media platforms up to 5% of their global revenue if they fail to stop the spread of disinformation, under a revised legislative plan unveiled on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The planned law, which looks similar to the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), was met with immediate condemnation from X owner Elon Musk, who called Australian lawmakers “fascists” in a response posted on X.

The EU has been investigating X’s role in spreading disinformation since December. Its law allows for fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for confirmed violations.

If similar laws were to spread elsewhere, Musk’s playbook for X could prove costly. His tenure at the platform formerly known as Twitter saw the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” welcome divisive, hateful content while making it difficult for users to verify the quality of information — the opposite of what laws like the DSA are intended to do.