Elon Musk and Joe Rogan respond to criticism of US podcaster by ...

Joe Rogan and Elon Musk have responded to comments made by the ABC's chair Kim Williams, who suggested the popular podcaster "preyed on people's vulnerabilities" which he found to be "deeply repulsive".

With the caption "LOL WUT", Rogan reposted a clip on social media platform X of the ABC chair criticising him during an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Hours later Mr Musk weighed in, comparing the ABC to Russian state media in a separate post on X.

"From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda," he wrote.

Pravda, which translates to "truth", was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Responding to a question after his address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, the ABC chair said [people like] Rogan "preyed on people's vulnerabilities" and suggested they help spread conspiracies.

"They prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative," Mr Williams said.

"I personally find it deeply repulsive to think that someone has such remarkable power in the United States is something that I look at in disbelief."

The comments come after Mr Musk was critical of the Australian government's plans to restrict social media use for young people.

The world's richest man has been named as head of a new department of government efficiency in Donald Trump's incoming administration.

Mr Williams' in turn said he had been exposed to a "huge pile-on" after Rogan and Musk responded to his comments.

"What fascinates me is, you say something negative about Joe Rogan and I have been swarmed with the most unbelievably vicious responses," he said, speaking with Raf Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday morning.

"You make a comment in response to a legitimate question from a journalist, you answer it concisely and give an honest answer in terms of what your own perception of what [Rogan] is and suddenly I get this huge pile-on from people in the most aggressive way … saying that I have a warped outlook on the world, that I am an embarrassment to our nation, that I am in some way unhinged."

The comments come amid a discussion as to whether Vice-President Kamala Harris, like president-elect Donald Trump, should have appeared on Rogan's show during her presidential campaign. 

In the lead up to election day, Trump sat down for a three-hour interview on The Joe Rogan Experience partly on the advise of his teenage son.

And when he took the stage to claim victory in Palm Beach, Trump thanked "the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan". 

With more than 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube, Rogan is believed to be the most listened to podcast in the world — and the episode with Trump was streamed more than 27 million times.

After reports Ms Harris was also considering an appearance, Rogan confirmed the interview would not be happening. 

"Also, for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast," Rogan said in a post on X. 

Speaking on the Democrat-aligned Pod Save America podcast on Wednesday, a senior adviser to Ms Harris, Stephanie Cutter, said they "wanted to" go on [Rogan's podcast] and vice versa, but ultimately could not find a date that worked. 

She acknowledged there's been much discussion over the fact that Ms Harris didn't go on the podcast.

"It didn't ultimately impact the outcome one way or another," she said.