Elon Musk claims he will fund legal challenges to Irish hate speech legislation

Elon Musk has voiced opposition to Ireland's proposed laws on hate speech. File Picture: AP

Elon Musk has said that his company X, previously known as Twitter, will fund Irish legal challenges to hate speech legislation.

In an interview with Gript, Mr Musk said X’s default position is that it will challenge any laws it believes would infringe upon someone’s ability to “say what they want to say”.

His comments are referring to the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill, which Justice Minister Helen McEntee had said would be progressed early this year.

Mr Musk explained: "We obviously have standing as our European Headquarters are in Ireland, we have a big office in Ireland, a big presence in Ireland so we obviously have standing.

"We will also fund the legal fees of Irish citizens who want to challenge the bill, so we'll make sure that if there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the Irish people that we do our absolute best to defend the people of Ireland and their ability to speak their mind," he added.

Mr Musk added that people should show 'concern' if the Government defined hate speech in its own terms.

“People should be extremely concerned about that. You’re just at the mercy of the ruling party and whatever bureaucrats they put in place. And they can just define something that really is not hate speech as hate speech just because they don’t like it.”

The Bill in question aims to tackle both incitement to hatred and hate speech.

The new regulations criminalise communication or behaviour that is "likely to incite violence or hatred against a group or individual because they are associated with a protected characteristic."

These characteristics include "race, colour, nationality, religion, national or ethnic origin, descent, gender, sex characteristics, sexual orientation and disability".

Mr Musk also suggested that the "biggest lie in the media is the choice of narrative."

He explained: "Because they can simply ignore anything they don’t like and they can overly focus on things that they do want to talk about."