Elon Musk ups ante in fightback against violent gaming ban
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has intervened in a brutal backlash by gamers against an Australian-led ban on sexually violent online games.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has intervened in a brutal backlash by gamers against an Australian-led ban on sexually violent online games.
“Bravo,” he posted on X, in response to a petition against credit card companies’ boycott of payments for games involving rape and child abuse.
He also revealed his plan to fast-track a payment system to rival credit cards and PayPal, after Visa Japan’s chief executive stated that disabling card payment for adult content is “necessary to protect the brand”.
Mr Musk responded with a post: “Hmm, we need to get X payments going soon.’’
Gaming giant Nintendo has banned all games sexualising children, after global gaming platform Steam in the past week removed hundreds of games with themes of rape, incest and sexual torture.
The sickening games were removed after a campaign by Australia’s Collective Shout, which lobbied credit card companies and PayPal to stop processing payments for games with rape, incest or child abuse themes.
Nintendo’s new rules for game developers prohibit content that would damage its brand – including the sexualisation of children and overly sexual content.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Thursday threw her support behind Collective Shout and revealed that she had personally faced threats of death and rape.
“As someone who has experienced persistent online abuse for standing up to platforms and perpetrators, including directed at my family, I deeply empathise with the plight of anyone experiencing the same,’’ she said.
“I also commend everyone who stands up for the protection of women and children. They should in turn be protected.’’
Ms Inman Grant said abusive content must first be reported to the social media platform before eSafety can intervene by seeking take-down orders.
“Threats of violence should also be reported to police,’’ she said.
“It is unacceptable and potentially illegal under Australia’s criminal laws for anyone to send rape threats or death threats targeting a person online.’’
Collective Shout founder Melinda Tankard Reist said her group “will not be silenced by gamers’ threats and abuse’’.
“Predictably, misogynistic gamers have come out in full force in defence of their access to rape, incest and child abuse games,’’ she said.
“They have unleashed a torrent of abuse and threats of violence against the women on our team.
“Across multiple online platforms and via emails to individual staff members, these men have threatened to rape and kill us, send us porn and child sexual abuse material, posted photos of our faces, called us ‘c..ts’ and ‘rapemeat’ … encouraged us to kill ourselves, threatened to make rape porn using our images and hunted down our addresses.’’
Ms Tankard Reist said X was refusing to remove all the abusive posts – but had shut down her account.
She said she was still gathering evidence for a complaint to police.
Ms Tankard Reist said Mr Musk was amplifying the worldwide online abuse by reposting the change.org petition.
“Musk’s actions have fuelled threats of violence, harassment and digital abuse of our all- female team across all our platforms and forced us to take extra measures of our personal safety,’’ she said.
“It appears that Musk is trying to capitalise on the removal of rape and incest games and the new T&Cs of payment processors by flagging his own payment (system).
“If, as is inferred, there will be no rules or ethics, even more women and girls will be in danger globally.’’
The petition that Mr Musk reposted singles out Australia for forcing “censorship’’ through payment systems.
“Imagine trying to buy a legal firearm online, only to have your payment blocked because the processor or bank deems it ‘high-risk’,’’ it says.
“Or registering for a website with adult content that’s protected under the First Amendment, but your card or account is declined due to corporate policies.
“What about video games on platforms like Steam being censored because an Australian law influences global processors?
“Payment processors and banks aren’t just refusing service; they’re bullying companies into changing their offerings.’’
The games removed from the Steam platform included those that let players role-play rape, an incest game involving a father and his twin daughters, and a game that required players to rape as many teammates as possible.
The Australian has sent questions to Mr Musk through X and his electric car company, Tesla.
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