Australian government gave $2.7m to Elon Musk’s X for advertisements in billionaire’s first year as owner

Exclusive: Spending came after the Albanese government paused ads for a week amid reports ads were appearing next to inappropriate contentElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastThe Australian government spent nearly $3m of taxpayer dollars advertising on Twitter/X in the first year after the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, took over the platform, despite warnings of brand reputation damage that caused t