Australia PM Albanese says Musk pushing agenda for X in social media ban criticism

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that criticism by Elon Musk of Australia’s social media ban on children under 16 was the X owner pushing an agenda for the social platform, while indicating he was open to talk to the billionaire about the ban, legislated this week.

Australia approved the social media ban for children late on Thursday after an emotive debate that has gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The ban, which the centre-left government says is world-leading, could strain Australia’s relationship with key ally the United States, where Musk, a central figure in the administration of president-elect Donald Trump, said in a post this month it seemed a “backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians”.

Albanese, asked on Sunday if he was prepared to talk to Musk about the social media ban said: “We’ll talk to anyone”.

“With regard to Elon Musk, he has an agenda, he’s entitled to push that as the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter,” Albanese added in remarks on Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook (NASDAQ:META) owner Meta, to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million). A trial of enforcement methods starts in January with the ban to take effect in a year.

“We are determined to get this done, the parliament has overwhelmingly passed this legislation,” Albanese told the broadcaster.

X did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.

Albanese’s Labor party won crucial support from the opposition conservatives for the bill that was fast-tracked through the country’s parliament as part of 31 bills pushed through in a chaotic final day of parliament for the year.