San Francisco

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to crush free speech in his country, saying this is “shameful”.

He reacted after the Canadian government made it compulsory for online streaming platforms to register with the government for "regulatory controls".

Author-Journalist Glenn Greenwald posted on X: “The Canadian government, armed with one of the world's most repressive online censorship schemes, announces that all online streaming services that offer podcasts must formally register with the government to permit regulatory controls”.

Musk reacted: “Trudeau is trying to crush free speech in Canada. Shameful.”

When one of his followers posted that Trudeau should change his name to "Falsedeau", the tech billionaire reacted with a crying face emoji.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India’s diplomatic row with Canada was discussed in his meeting with top US officials -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan -- and he gave them both an exhaustive account of India’s case, which included its assessment of "a very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorists”.

The US has been supportive of Canada’s allegation that India was behind the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

The US has publicly and privately urged India to cooperate with the investigation.

New Delhi has dismissed the allegations as "absurd" but has said that if Canada has anything, it would take a look at it.

But Ottawa has not provided any evidence to India or presented it publicly.