ASIO, AFP focus in on tech companies

Addressing the National Press Club on Wednesday, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw will call out "social media companies [for] refusing to snuff out the social combustion on their platforms."

"Instead of putting out the embers that start on their platforms, their indifference and defiance is pouring accelerant on the flames," Mr Kershaw will say in a written speech seen by The Canberra Times.

Australia's Director-General of Security Mike Burgess will also say that the expansion of end-to-end encryption is hindering the agency's ability to investigate a number of Australians belonging to a nationalist and racist extremist network.

"They use an encrypted chat platform to communicate with offshore extremists, sharing vile propaganda, posting tips about homemade weapons and discussing how to provoke a race war," he will say.

Mr Burgess and Mr Kershaw called on firms to ensure authorities can still access information through warrants, as they implement encryption technologies.

Political resolve to take on the tech giants over radicalisation, violence, disinformation and misinformation is strengthening across the Parliament in the aftermath of the Sydney stabbings.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday dubbed Mr Musk "an arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law", after the X owner refused to remove videos of the alleged stabbing of a bishop at a church in Wakeley on April 15, 2024, from the platform.

The prime minister called the tech CEO an egotist who was using X as "a vanity project" without regard for its users.

"He is someone who's totally out of touch with the values that Australian families have, and this is causing great distress," Mr Albanese told Nine.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said the Coalition will "support any effort from the government" to strengthen regulation of the social media platforms if they are found to be inadequate.

Health Minister Mark Butler told reporters in Melbourne: "This government won't be bullied by the antics of this tech billionaire. We expect him to be bound by Australian laws and to respect the decisions of Australian laws."

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has left the door open to restricting the use of X on government employee devices, telling The Canberra Times when asked if this was being considered: "We will continue to listen to the advice of our agencies and act when appropriate."

Mr Albanese last year issued a directive for TikTok to be banned on government devices after a Home Affairs department official highlighted security risks posed by the Chinese-owned app.

Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie announced on Friday that she had deleted her account on X and called on other federal politicians to "lead by example" by doing the same, after calling Musk "an absolute friggin disgrace" who should be jailed.

South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young called on the government to regulate social media companies and force them to pay for quality news, to counter the spread of "disinformation, misinformation and hatred".

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant is seeking a permanent injunction forcing X to remove the content in the Federal Court, which can impose fines of up to $782,500 per contravention.

The platform had blocked the content in Australia but maintained access to it in other countries, but the commissioner sought Federal Court intervention to force its removal.

An interim injuction compelling X to hide the material was granted on Monday evening.

Mr Musk mocked Mr Albanese on the platform he owns, tweeting a meme claiming that X represented the "truth" and "free speech while other censored content and pushed out "propaganda".

"Don't take my word for it, just ask the Australian PM!" Mr Musk added in the Monday evening tweet.

Commissioner Kershaw will say on Wednesday that "indifference and defiance" from social platforms is having dire impacts.

"If we consider the disinformation and misinformation from two shocking incidents in Sydney this month, and how that social combustion was propagated throughout the world, we see the consequences of that indifference and defiance," he will say.