'X' (Twitter), has thumbed its nose at the Australian government’s orders from the eSafety commissioner to remove the violent videos and other misinformation about the recent Sydney stabbings.

A conga line of Australian politicians have savaged Musk and X’s response in recent days. The Greens’ communications spokesperson, Hanson-Young, added to that criticism in a press conference this afternoon.

It’s just appalling that Elon Musk is refusing to take down those horrendous violent posts. The online tech thugs are operating as if it’s the wild west.

Elon Musk should front up to the Australian people, he should front up here to parliament and argue why his company shouldn’t have a social conscience and shouldn’t be doing the right thing.

Frankly, I don’t think Musk has the guts to do it.

Asked if she would try to actually ask or seek to compel Musk or other tech bosses to appear in parliament, such as in a Senate committee hearing, Hanson-Young declined to confirm – but said “there’s a number of different ways that could happen. I’m open to discussing with all of my parliamentary colleagues, from all sides, how we could make that happen.”

Hanson-Young said the Greens were still considering whether to back the government’s misinformation bill, but indicated that they thought the penalties on tech companies should be even higher than what the government has set out in draft legislation.

She said the penalties needed to be stronger than “wet lettuce”.

Hanson-Young said there needed to be more transparency from social platforms on how their algorithms worked, and how they worked to send some violent content viral.