The United States issued a warning to Australia after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced new legislation in September allowing people to “opt out” of powerful algorithms fuelling their social media feeds, prompting social media users to share a fictitious post of Donald Trump insulting the Australian leader on his Truth Social account. The post has outdated references to Kevin Rudd, Australia’s former ambassador to the United States, and there was no record of any such post on Trump’s social media or its archives.
“Yesterday an annoying little weasel of a man interrupted my round of golf. He told me he was Australia’s Prime Minister,” reads a purported Trump missive from his Truth Social account, posted to an anti-Albanese Facebook group by a Queensland-based Facebook user on September 9, 2026.
Trump “hung up” on Albanese, who called him back asking for a visit to the Oval Office, according to the purported screenshot of the Truth Social post, which included profanity and insults to Albanese as well as the former Australian ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd.
“I will only do business with Australia once they restore free speech,” Trump supposedly said in the post, which concluded with the hashtag “Make Australia Great Again”.
Screenshot of the false post captured on September 11, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
The screenshot was shared widely by Facebook users mostly in groups critical of Albanese and his Labor party, and it was also seen on X.
It started circulating after Australia released draft laws on September 8 that would place a “duty of care” on the firms behind popular platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram ( archived link).
Social media companies would be held responsible for protecting under-18s from pornography, online bullying, content that glorified crime, and content that encouraged eating disorders, and companies found to be flouting their “duty of care” could be fined up to Aus$109 million ($78 million), Albanese said.
The draft legislation — building on Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s, which came into effect late last year — includes a requirement that platforms allow users to “opt out” of powerful algorithms that determine what comes up on social media feeds ( archived link).
During the press conference announcing the legislation, Albanese was asked about the “potential risks of this (new legislation) upsetting the US president”, to which the prime minister replied that Australia is “a sovereign nation” ( archived link).
“We decide our policies based upon the Australian national interest,” he told the reporter, adding that he looks forward to seeing Trump in New York “in a couple of weeks’ time” when the leaders are expected to gather for the United Nations.
In response, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Trump had “unequivocally warned trading partners against imposing digital services taxes, fines, and other forms of extortion on America’s leading technology sector”, according to local news reports ( archived link).
Fabricated Truth Social posts from Trump insulting the Australian leader — which AFP has previously debunked — often spread quickly among Australian users in anti-Albanese Facebook groups. While some appear to recognise that the content is fabricated, there are many others who appear to be fooled by the posts.
“Love this post! Wish President Trump could run this Country,” said one commenter about the screenshot posted on Facebook, while another gushed: “Oh my goodness I love you DJT! You summed it up!”
But there is no record of the post on the US leader’s official Truth Social account or Trump’s Truth, an independent archive of all his posts (archived here and here).
The date and timestamp is also missing from the fabricated post, as is the Truth Social icon next to Trump’s red check mark.
Screenshot comparison of the fabricated Truth Social post (L) and a real post from Trump, with visual differences highlighted in red
The fake post also references Kevin Rudd, who is no longer Australia’s ambassador to the United States. The former Australian prime minister held the position until March 2026 ( archived link). The current ambassador is Greg Moriarty ( archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other fabricated Truth Social posts attributed to Trump.