When an unnamed X user said that it was Lambie who “should be in jail for censoring free speech on X”, Musk replied, “Absolutely. She is an enemy of the people of Australia”.
After Australia’s federal court told Elon Musk’s platform X to temporarily stop showing video of a knife attack on an Assyrian bishop during a church service in Sydney a week earlier, Musk accused the country’s leaders of trying to censor the internet, prompting an outpouring of condemnation from lawmakers.
Elon Musk said an Australian senator should be jailed and suggested the country’s gun laws were meant to stop resistance against its “fascist government”, escalating his battle over a court order to remove video posts of a bishop being stabbed.
Senator Says Elon Musk Should be Jailed
One senator, Jacqui Lambie, deleted her X account in protest of the release of the video and asked other politicians to follow her, she said, Musk had “no social conscience or conscience whatsoever and he should be jailed.
Absolutely. She is an enemy of the people of Australia.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2024
Furious Elon Musk Calls Senator ‘An Enemy, Dictator’
When an unnamed X user said that it was Lambie who “should be in jail for censoring free speech on X”, Musk replied, “Absolutely. She is an enemy of the people of Australia”.
A representative for Lambie, an independent senator for the small island state of Tasmania, declined to comment.
In Brazil, Musk called the judge a “dictator”, who asked X to block some accounts as part of an investigation into digital militias.
Musk kept on attacking Australia, by replying to X user’s post who stated “disarmed all of their citizens in 1996 so that they cannot resist their fascist government”, with a reference to a gun buy-back and registration scheme after the country’s worst mass shooting. Musk responded to the user with an exclamation mark.
Elon Musk’s Attack On Australia
Another verified X user posted a screenshot of a text message purporting to be from a “friend living in Sydney”, saying “Evil has penetrated Australia’s government hard”. “Whoa!” replied Musk.
Police have charged a 16-year-old with a terrorism offence in the church attack. Videos online showed the youth, restrained by the congregation, shouting at the bishop for insulting Islam.
X and Musk have said they complied with the temporary takedown order by blocking it for Australians, but that they would appeal it. The footage remained visible on X in Australia on Wednesday.
(With Inputs From Reuters)