Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dashes Elon Musk’s criticism of social media age ban

Anthony Albanese has dashed criticism of tech billionaire Elon Musk as the government works to implement its social media age ban for teens under 16 years of age.

Prior to the law passing, the X owner lashed the world-first legislation as a “backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians”.

X will be one of the many platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, which will have to manage and administer the ban or face fines of up to $50m.

However the Prime Minister has disregarded Mr Musk’s criticism, despite the Tesla and Space X boss’ close connections with US president-elect Donald Trump.

“With regard to Elon Musk, he has an agenda. He’s entitled to push that,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

Mr Albanese also confirmed he was open to speaking to Mr Musk, who the known-libertarian vowing to government bureaucracy and regulations as the chief of Mr Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

“We’ll engage (with Mr Musk). I’ll talk to anyone … but we are determined to get this done,” said Mr Albanese.

“The parliament has overwhelmingly passed this legislation, and it’s the right thing to do.”

While willing to talk it through, the Prime Minister ruled out a visit to Mar-a-Lago to visit President Trump ahead of his inauguration, noting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was going specifically to raise the issue of Mr Trump’s proposed 25 per cent tarrif on Canadian and Mexican goods.

Previously, Mr Musk has called Labor “fascists” over its failed misinformation and disinformation laws which aimed to regulate the sharing of false or malicious information online.

In April, Mr Albanese labelled the X chief an “arrogant billionaire” after X refused to remove graphic videos showing the alleged stabbing of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, prompting a legal challenge from the eSafety commissioner.

While X blocked the content in Australia, it was still available to be viewed globally.

“Australians will shake their head when they think that this billionaire is prepared to go to court fighting for the right to sow division and to show violent videos,” Mr Albanese said at the time.

In response, Mr Musk accused the commissioner of attempting to censor content for all countries.

The high anticipated but divisive social media age ban was part of 45 pieces of legislation the government passed in its final two sitting weeks for 2024.

Passage of the bill in the Senate was noted by news outlets globally, including the New York Times, the BBC, and Politico EU.

However Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has said it doesn’t believe it has the technological capacity to implement the ban – comments the government has questioned.

“We are concerned about the process which rushed the legislation through while failing to properly consider the evidence, what industry already does to ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people,” a Meta spokesman said on Friday.