'Show him that you mean business': Jacqui Lambie issues boycott call as Australian politicians escalate feud with Elon Musk
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has called upon fellow parliamentarians to boycott Elon Musk's social media platform X, as she launched a broadside against the billionaire over his mocking of demands to remove video footage of last week's alleged terror attack.
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has called on fellow parliamentarians to boycott Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as she delivered broadside to criticism of the billionaire's response to requests from Australia's eSafety Commissioner to remove harmful content.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Senator Lambie unleashed on Mr Musk, claiming he was "creating hatred" by ignoring requests to remove footage of last week's terror attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel.
The Tasmanian Senator then told Sky News she was boycotting the platform and urged parliamentarians to follow.
"When you want to lead by example, it has to happen from here, so start switching off X," she said.
"I think he's a social media knob with no social conscience, he has absolutely no social conscience.
"Someone like that should be in jail and the key be thrown away. That bloke should not have a right to be out there on his own ideology platform and creating hatred, showing all this stuff out there to our kids and doing all the rest.
"I'll say this to everybody else, I'll be switching off X today, I'll be doing that before I get to the airport this afternoon, and I suggest that the other 226, there's 227 members of Parliament, do the same thing.
"Show him that you mean business."
Mr Musk's apparent contempt for the orders of Australia's eSafety Commissioner has sparked bipartisan outcry, with the billionaire facing massive criticism from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as well as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
While Commissioner Julie Inman Grant won a victory late on Monday night through a court ordered injunction on posts featuring footage of the attack, legal experts are divided on whether it can be enforced and Mr Musk has strongly suggested he would seek to appeal against any forced removal of the content.
The billionaire, who claims to be a "free speech absolutist," has repeatedly labelled efforts to remove the posts as "censorship", while a representative for X on Sunday said the content did not violate the company's policies for violent speech.
In response, Mr Albanese and others within the government claimed his behaviour demonstrated the need for stronger laws to police social media companies over harmful content and the spread of disinformation.
Senator Lambie backed those claims on Tuesday, highlighting moves by lawmakers in the United States targeting TikTok to suggest the government could even "shut down" some social media sites if they refused to do the right thing.
"I think I, like many other people, are watching what's happening in America with TikTok, they reckon they've got a new legislation or a new bill that's going to come through that's going to really restrict them or get rid of them," she said.
"This is a war with those social media users, there's no doubt about that, it's been coming for a long time.
"My issue is I just wonder if we've left our run too late cause seriously they're plugged into all our kids out there, seriously, who's going to have the nous to make the political move to say we're going to shut down some of these social media companies?"
While the government has made no suggestion it plans to go as far as forcing X, or other platforms, to cease their operations, it remains to be seen what actions it could take should Mr Musk continue to dismiss attempts to police content deemed unsafe by Australian regulators.