The Prime Minister has taken the unusual approach of preemptively warning billionaire Elon Musk that if he interferes in Australian elections he will fall foul of foreign interference laws.
Anthony Albanese said that Australian laws prevented foreign actors from meddling in the Australian electoral process.
“We have foreign interference laws in this country and Australian elections are a matter for Australians,” Albanese said.
Australia amended its criminal code to ban foreign interference in 2018. The legislation outlaws an act that is performed, directed, funded or supervised on behalf of a “foreign principal” and can influence an Australian democratic process such as elections.
The laws were drafted to combat foreign powers from interference and there are questions about how they would apply to a US-based social media owner who is protected by US laws, including provisions around free speech.
Brendan Walker-Munro, a senior lecturer of law at Southern Cross University, wrote in the Conversation cast doubts about whether Australia could prosecute Musk.
“The problem is the foreign interference provisions were designed to protect Australian democracy from interference by foreign governments – and their spies, secret agents and saboteurs – not massive social media super-corporations, or the world’s richest man,” he wrote.
“First, a prosecution would have to prove that Musk or X is working on behalf of, directed, funded or supervised by “foreign principal”.”
Another challenge, argues Walker-Munro, is that Australia would need to extradite Musk for a crime that is not recognised under US law.
Nonetheless, Albanese has cause to be concerned. Musk has taken to Twitter to label the Australian government “fascists” over misinformation laws, and also took a swipe at Aussie reforms designed to restrict social media access to people aged 16 and older.
Musk also has form shilling for far right movements overseas. He spent an eye watering US$277 million on Donald Trump’s successful re-election campaign, and altered the X algorithm to favour conservative voices.
Musk has repeatedly stoked tensions with the Labour Party in the UK, attacking the centre-left Prime Minister Keir Starmer on several fronts and backing far-right activist Tommy Robinson and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
In Germany, he urged voters to support the far right political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has been linked to Neo-Nazi movements.
