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Albo might be waging war on the internet but the internet is fighting back.

Just days after Labor axed its toxic ‘misinformation’ bill, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese uploaded a video to X promoting the next phase of his war on the internet: his under-16 social media ban.

“I’ve got a message for mums and dads: we are on your side,” the Prime Minister wrote in the video’s caption. “We’ve got your back.”

The PM’s post was promptly slapped with a Community Note — X’s equivalent of a fact-check, supplied by users of the platform.

I’ve got a message for mums and dads: we are on your side. We’ve got your back. pic.twitter.com/ezTkWAEH9x

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 25, 2024

The note was an indictment of the undemocratic process Mr Albanese’s party has used to rush the bill through parliament, and a direct contradiction of his claim that he’s on the side of ordinary Australians.

Providing links to the bill’s inquiry page, the Community Note read:

Countless mums and dads oppose this legislation. Despite given only 24 hours for the public to make submissions, around 15000 submissions were made, and the majority of those which were published are opposed to the legislation.

The Community Notes correction was restrained enough but it certainly got tongues wagging in the comments section and beyond.

One of the wittiest retweets came from Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick, who wrote, “Those submissions came in quicker than a community note on an Albo post.”

Touché.

Distilled in one fateful tweet from Mr Albanese are three lessons Australians can learn from his unfolding war on the internet.

X is Already Combatting ‘Misinformation’

I intentionally use quotation marks around the word “misinformation” given that it is a concocted category crafted to crush dissent.

But to the extent that “misinformation” exists and needs to be rooted out, X is on the job — and didn’t Mr Albanese learn the hard way.

As seen in the interview below, the Australian Prime Minister has made no secret of his personal vendetta against Elon Musk and the wildly popular haven for free speech that is X.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slams Elon Musk for refusing to comply with censorship demands to remove posts about the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney:

“This is a bloke who’s chosen ego and showing violence over common sense…other social media companies have… pic.twitter.com/hAAXQA85dC

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 23, 2024

Indeed, a case can be made that Albo’s war on the internet is actually a proxy for a much more specific target: Musk’s X.

X is, after all, the only major social media platform refusing to play by the rules of the progressive globalist cabal. And as we discovered through the Twitter Files, X has now pried itself free from the grip of America’s intelligence agencies.

In the aftermath of these developments, the propaganda being forced down our throats is that X is now a uniquely dangerous platform — a hideout for hate, a network of neo-Nazis, a forum for the far-right.

Nothing could be further from the truth. According to CNN, X is the most balanced platform out there, with an almost perfect split between Democrat and Republican users. (By the way, this balance is why X was the only social media site that correctly predicted Donald Trump’s historic re-election).

X is a mirror to the US.

More than any other platform, we represent the ENTIRE country! pic.twitter.com/t1qRQuviUr

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) November 19, 2024

As an avid X user myself, I’ve seen no evidence the platform has plunged into some existential abyss. The main differences I’ve noticed since Musk took over are that conservatives are no longer censored, and, as Albo has discovered, overt dishonesty is held to account via Community Notes.

Community Notes really is a brilliant feature. Misleading tweets are given warning labels that add important context or offer corrections, and all of the moderation is undertaken by X users rather than shadowy figures from Silicon Valley.

As Elon Musk has pointed out, even he gets “Community Noted” occasionally, and his commitment to transparency means he refuses remove flags from his own posts. In any case, if Musk tried to remove a Community Note from his own account, X users would be able to see him cheat, thanks to the software and data being open source.

Joe Rogan: Community Notes is the best. Everybody gets checked.

Elon Musk: Including me.

“The counter to misinformation is better information.” pic.twitter.com/E1GIy0EX1O

— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) November 4, 2024

Essentially, X has become the most open and democratic social media platform out there — which is why tinpot tyrants hate it so much.

Albo is a ‘Misinformation Superspreader’

As alluded to by David Limbrick, Mr Albanese has been held accountable by the Community Notes feature on more than one occasion.

In fact, this week’s video marked at least the ninth time the Australian Prime Minister has been fact-checked on X.

Some sleuthing by citizen journalist Nathan Livingstone last week revealed that Albo has been Community Noted on topics ranging from the under 16 social media ban to the craft beer excise tax and Labor’s Help to Buy scheme.

With this latest gem this now makes 9 Community Notes within the last 3 months for @AlboMP. pic.twitter.com/1kBofqs9xm

— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) November 21, 2024

As the list of hoaxes spread by Mr Albanese grows, so too do the reasons he has to try censor the internet, wage war on Elon Musk, and make his government the arbiter of truth.

Fortunately for our sake, he’s been ratted out as a “misinformation superspreader” and Australians are waking up to his tricks.

Australians Are Learning to Push Back

For an inquiry that lasted just 24 hours, 15,000 submissions from the Australian public is an impressive number.

The ‘Misinformation’ Bill saw similarly large volumes of response, with the relevant senate committee reporting they had received northward of 30,000 submissions.

Australians tend to be a relaxed people — too relaxed sometimes, as we unfortunately witnessed during the Covid era.

Free speech, however, is something Aussies apparently still care about. And where they have detected major overreach by their government, they are learning to push back.

Good thing, too. As political philosophers readily point out, freedom of speech is the human right that undergirds all others. Without it, we lose our voice to defend every other precious freedom.

With Albo’s war on the internet hitting some significant snags in recent times, be encouraged. The internet is fighting back — and Australians are leading the charge.

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.