Elon Musk’s company X has accused the Albanese government of undermining children’s rights by curbing their free speech and access to information as the social media site seeks a delay of at least six months to Australia’s social media ban for under-16s.
US President Donald Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with Musk, who was one of his closest confidants in the early months of his presidency, and has vowed to impose tariffs or export restrictions on foreign nations that try to regulate American tech firms.
Elon Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Aresna Villaneuva
In a submission to an Australian Senate inquiry, X said less than one per cent of its Australian users were under 16, and argued its content moderation teams — which were dramatically cut following Musk’s 2022 aquisition of the service then named Twitter — could protect young people.
The world-first ban, which covers sites such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook comes into effect on December 10, and could be expanded to dating and gaming sites including Lego Play, Reddit, Tinder and Hinge after the eSafety Commissioner requested their operators check if they were covered by the law.
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But X, which has repeatedly tangled with the eSafety Commissioner over attempts to rein it in, argued the listing of platforms based on ministerial discretion posed “significant risk of regulatory weaponisation” and posed a “major threat to freedom of information, speech, and access to the internet”.
“We have serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the social media minimum age, including its compatibility with other regulations and laws, including international human rights treaties to which Australia is a signatory,” X’s submission reads, naming the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The platform requested the start of the ban be delayed at least six months with a grace period for engineering changes. It said children would evade the laws and that giving parents greater controls over their children’s use of social sites would work better than a ban.
Speaking from New York on Thursday morning, Communications Minister Anika Wells said X’s claims were wrong because the government was acting to support children’s wellbeing, which was also protected by international agreements.
