Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is under scrutiny from US Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, who has requested her testimony before the US Congress. Jordan, chair of the Committee of the Judiciary, expressed concerns that Australia’s Online Safety Act (OSA) enforcement is impinging on free speech in the United States. In a letter to Inman Grant, Jordan criticized her as a ‘noted zealot for global takedowns’ and accused her of overreaching by applying Australian laws extraterritorially, which he claims threatens American citizens’ speech rights. He has demanded her appearance by December 2, just before Australia’s social media ban for under-16s takes effect. A spokesperson for Inman Grant stated that she is considering the request, emphasizing that her role is to enforce Australian laws and that she is accountable to Australia’s Minister for Communications and Parliament. The spokesperson also clarified that eSafety’s actions do not restrict American companies from displaying content to Americans. Jordan’s letter referenced Inman Grant’s past legal actions against Elon Musk’s X platform, where she sought the removal of videos depicting a Sydney church stabbing, deemed a terrorist incident, from global users. Although X initially refused to comply, it later blocked the videos in Australia. Jordan also accused Inman Grant of collaborating with pro-censorship entities in the US to promote ‘global censorship regimes’ and criticized her speech at Stanford University, labeling it as ‘troubling’ and indicative of efforts to censor lawful American speech. He warned that such global content takedown orders could set a dangerous precedent for other governments to follow.
