Australia: Censorship in the Name of ‘Safety’

AlBozo government establishes Joint Select Committee to examine impact of social media

‘These social media companies have enormous control over what Australians see with little to no scrutiny.’
 
The committee’s formation comes as the federal government has been at loggerheads with social media giants over the removal of violent content online following the stabbing of a church leader in Sydney in April.
Platforms such as X, previously known as Twitter, had refused to comply with take-down requests from the internet safety watchdog after the stabbing.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media companies had a responsibility to users to be accountable and transparent about their decisions.

“These social media companies have enormous reach and control over what Australians see with little to no scrutiny,” she said.

“In our democracy we need censorship to protect the sheeple”

“In our democracy, it is imperative that Australians have access to quality public interest journalism, including on social media. Unliteral decisions to undermine news hurts us all.”

 

We do not need overpaid, self-important government appointed  snoops. 

We don’t need a global online safety regulator supervised by the WEF.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Goes to Davos! At this year’s Davos, less government officials were present than usual, yet Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, was not only present, but she was also an agenda contributor, pushing for greater online safety. I asked in what capacity Ms Julie Inman Grant was present at Davos for the World Economic Forum 2024 annual meeting, what was the cost to Australian taxpayers and whether staff travelled with her on this trip at public expense. As an independent statutory authority, Commissioner Inman Grant is planning to embrace global opportunities to help achieve the outcomes she perceives necessary for online safety. The Commissioner is seeking broader powers to achieve her agenda, for our own good of course, and once again this begs the question exactly who is deciding what is ‘good’? Listening to her speak about online safety regulations, the one word conspicuous by its absence is censorship. The other missing words were freedom of expression.