US interference puts Australian internet laws under scrutiny.
Reuters News Agency, Jim Jordan said after Julie Inman Grant, the chief of Australia’s eSafety, attended a meeting at Stanford University: “The meeting was a serious threat to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the freedom of speech of Americans.”
He accused Grant of collaborating with “censorship” organizations and summoned the Canberra official to explain Australia’s internet laws.
The actions come as a number of major internet companies – mainly American – have objected to a set of Australian internet laws, including a ban on the use of social networks by children under 16.
Elon Musk, the head of the social platform X and a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, has also called Grant a “censorship commissioner” for his efforts to limit some posts in Australia and described the ban on teenagers’ presence on social networks as a “surveillance tool.”
Jordan added that “as the chief enforcer of Australia’s cyberspace law and someone passionate about global content removal, you are in a unique position to explain the implications of this law for free speech.”
He claimed that your broad interpretation of Australia’s cyberspace law directly threatens the freedom of speech of Americans.
The US lawmaker has asked Grant to respond by Tuesday, December 2, to set up an interview.
In his letter, Jordan referred to a legal case last year in which the eSafety Commission ordered Platform X to remove posts that shared a video of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church, which police have described as an act of terrorism.
He also said that Grant had sought help from Stanford University to assess Australia’s age-restricted social media use plan, adding that “the close relationship with Stanford is concerning.”
In this regard, Australia’s IBC network reported, citing a spokesperson for the country’s A-Safety Office, that the agency is not taking any action to restrict the content that American companies display to American citizens, and that Grant is reviewing the request from Congress.