Latest news with #BillboardChris
Fox News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Elon Musk's X and Billboard Chris celebrate 'decisive victory' against censorship in Australia
Conservative activist and children's safety campaigner "Billboard Chris" took a victory lap Wednesday after successfully suing part of the Australian government for trying to censor his posts critical of government officials that advocate for transgender operations. Following a lawsuit filed by social media platform X and the conservative activist – whose real name is Chris Elston – the Australian government was forced to back down from its demands that X delete Elston's 2024 post criticizing a World Health Organization bureaucrat for what Elston described as their pro-child gender operation views. "I think this was a very large dose of rationality for Australia, which has really gone off the deep end in terms of censorship," Elston told Fox News Digital following an Australian Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) ruling this week that Elston could leave his post on the platform. Elston added that the ruling was "a decisive victory" and declared that "Australians should rejoice because they're free to call a man a man, and a woman a woman." X's official Global Government Affairs account reacted to the verdict, stating, "This is a decisive win for free speech in Australia and around the world. X will continue to fight against coercive state censorship and to defend our users' rights to free speech." Elston shared a Daily Mail story on X in 2024 that exposed the identity and sexual proclivities of Teddy Cook, an Australian transgender male who had just been appointed to a WHO body tasked with drafting "care guidelines for trans and non-binary people." The Daily Mail reported that Cook has a "kinky track record in everything from bestiality to bondage, drugs and nudism." Elston posted the article to X and referred to Cook as a "she," in accordance with Cook's biological sex. In the caption to his original post, Elston wrote, "This woman (yes, she's female) is part of a panel of 20 'experts' hired by the @WHO to draft their policy on caring for 'trans people.' People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards." After his posts, Elston revealed that Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant sent the activist and X a notice demanding they remove the posts because it amounted to "cyber abuse" of Cook. The government official then threatened X with a nearly $800,000 fine if the platform did not remove the post, prompting X and Elston's legal challenge. Lois McLatchie Miller, a spokesperson for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International – the legal group who coordinated Elston's case against the ruling along with Australia's Human Rights Law Alliance – explained to Fox News Digital how Grant tried to justify the demand to have Elston's speech removed from social media. According to the legal expert, Grant charged Elston and X with violating Australia's "Online Safety Act," alleging his post engaged in "cyber abuse against an Australian adult." Miller continued, "So they use that terminology to say that Chris's post should have been banned. But of course, that would give rise to or demand that Chris intended or the intention of his tweet was to bully someone to abuse them. And, of course, that was not the case." After a week-long hearing over Elston's case that occurred in March, ART reached a verdict Wednesday siding with the activist. According to ART Deputy President Damien O'Donovan, it was clear that Elston's post was not cyber abuse but a statement of his beliefs. Donovan stated in his ruling, "The post, although phrased offensively, is consistent with views Mr Elston has expressed elsewhere in circumstances where the expression of the view had no malicious intent." "When the evidence is considered as a whole I am not satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would conclude that by making the post Mr Elston intended to cause Mr Cook serious harm," he added. Miller described Donovan's finding as a "really significant point," telling Fox News Digital that Elston's "intention was to keep his conviction to speak in the way that he thought was accurate and true. And to uphold the right of identity of women and children." Elston mentioned he felt his team beat the case on "every single legal point." "I think this sets a fantastic precedent going forward, and it should, at the very least, make Australians feel safe to say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, because we've set a precedent for that," he said. Miller added, "This is a really significant early ruling in favor of free speech, which is going to be helpful for citizens all over the world as they tackle these new laws coming in." In a press release, ADF International executive director Paul Coleman celebrated the verdict. "This is a decisive win for free speech and sets an important precedent in the growing global debate over online censorship. In this case, the Australian government alarmingly censored the peaceful expression of a Canadian citizen on an American-owned platform, evidence of the expansive reach of censorial forces, even beyond national borders. Today, free speech has prevailed." The Australian eSafety Commission pointed Fox News Digital to their statement on ART's verdict, which read, "eSafety welcomes the guidance provided by the Tribunal on the statutory test for adult cyber abuse. We will continue to take seriously the responsibility of remediating online harms and protecting Australians from serious online harms."
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Canadian activist 'Billboard Chris' hails ‘tremendous victory' against eSafety Commissioner and the censorious ‘regime of fear' in Australia
Canadian activist Chris Elston, known online as 'Billboard Chris', said he and his lawyers are 'extremely pleased' after he and Elon Musk's X won a major case against the eSafety Commission and transgender activist Teddy Cook this week. Mr Elston described the hearing as a 'total destruction' of Ms Inman Grant's case against him, and claimed all of the eSafety Commissioner's 'so-called experts' were 'basically dismissed'. The ruling, handed down on Tuesday evening, rescinded a takedown order issued by the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant for a social media post made by Mr Elston in February last year. Mr Elston's post criticised the World Health Organisation's appointment of Mr Cook to an expert panel to draft policy on caring for transgender people. In the post, he wrote: 'This woman (yes, she's female) is part of a panel of 20 'experts' hired by the WHO to draft their policy on caring for 'trans people'. People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards.' The eSafety Commissioner called the post degrading and issued X with the takedown notice in March and threatened a $782,500 fine if the social media giant refused. Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday evening, Mr Elston said the Administrative Review Tribunal deputy president Damien O'Donovan had judged Billboard Chris acted in accordance to his convictions. '(Mr O'Donovan) even quoted my own testimony where I said that because I believe sex is immutable I'm personally convicted,' he said. Mr Elston said when the deputy president looked at his entire campaign, he saw Billboard Chris had been consistent on this matter. 'My post itself was not about causing serious distress or harm to Teddy Cook. It was about bringing light to a situation where children are being harmed. And we sometimes forget that. This is all about the kids,' he said. Mr Elston said the tendency across the West, not just Australia, was to 'cancel' people and get them fired to instill a 'regime of fear being pushed by these bureaucrats'. He said in his case, Ms Inman Grant was an 'unelected bureaucrat' who only censored in 'one direction.' 'I think this is a tremendous victory. We're stacking up some wins against these censors across the globe,' he said. 'This is, I think, the third victory against the e-Safety commissioner. They keep throwing money at this though because they have inexhaustible resources, but we have something they don't have. We have the truth and we're just going to keep spreading it because the truth spreads for free.' Billboard Chris made headlines after he was approached by a Brisbane City Council in Queen Street Mall while he held a sign stating 'children cannot consent to puberty blockers', who accused him of obstructing people's movement. The council worker went on to issue Mr Elston with an $806 fine for 'obstructing or unreasonably disturbing any person lawfully using a mall', a claim the activist calmly insisted was untrue. Mr Elston's sign reflected current Queensland law after the state government issued a directive banning puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for new patients suffering gender dysphoria earlier this year. Asked if he would come back to Australia following after the recent run-ins, Mr Elston said he would certainly return. 'Not only are they trying to censor me on the digital town square, every physical town square I go into in Australia, they're trying to remove me,' he said. Mr Elston said he had recently secured victory against Brisbane City Council after he challenged the fine. 'This is how we have to act. We can't just let these censors tell us what to do. I'm having conversations about children who are being harmed,' he said. 'Other people go to that town square, they do whatever they want. They actually obstruct people. I did nothing of the sort. So I think I'm going to sue Brisbane City Council as well now that ticket has been thrown out and I'll probably come back just for that.
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
WATCH LIVE: Canadian activist 'Billboard Chris' speaks to Sky News after win against eSafety Commissioner
Canadian activist Chris Elston, also known as 'Billboard Chris', joins Sky News to discuss his win in court against Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. Elon Musk's X and Mr Elston scored a major win against the eSafety Commission and transgender activist Teddy Cook in a landmark ruling from the Administrative Review Tribunal. The ruling, delivered on Tuesday evening, rescinds a takedown order issued by the eSafety Commissioner over a controversial social media post on X from February 2024. Billboard Chris joins Sky News to discuss the ruling and what it means for free speech in Australia. Watch the interview live on The Kenny Report from 5:25pm with a Streaming Subscription.
Fox News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'Billboard Chris' sounds off after arrest in 'most woke city' for opposing transgender treatments for kids
Conservative activists warned about the threat to free speech in Europe after they were arrested in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday for holding signs opposing transgender medical treatments for children. Chris Elston, better known as "Billboard Chris," and Alliance Defending Freedom International senior legal communications officer Lois McLatchie Miller spoke to Fox News Digital after they were released, hours after being harassed by a crowd and taken into police custody. Elston, well known for wearing billboards decrying transgender medical care for children out in public, stood out in the streets of the Belgian capital alongside McLatchie Miller. Both wore billboards with the messages, "Children are never born in the wrong body" and "Children cannot consent to puberty blockers." Elston travels the world to spread his message, which he says mostly receives positive feedback. But in Brussels, it was mostly opposition. "It was pretty much non-stop abuse and harassment," Elston told Fox News Digital. "It quickly became apparent that this is probably the most woke city I have been to in my five years of campaigning, and nothing else comes close." "We had a man throw a glass bottle at us. It landed behind me, but right in front of a five-year-old girl who was walking with her dad, smashed on the ground. People were telling me I needed to get out of there because Antifa was going to come, and no matter where we walked in the city, we were getting a lot of grief," he added. After one man continually harassed McLatchie Miller, the pair called the police for protection. Instead, they were told if they didn't remove their signs, they would be arrested. They were then detained, strip-searched and had their signs confiscated, before they were released three hours later with no formal charge, Elston said. "They put us in handcuffs and everything, but they just let us go, and it seems they just wanted to get rid of us instead of dealing with the angry, unruly mob," he added. The activists were in Brussels this week to share their message and discuss policy issues with members of the European Parliament. McLatchie Miller, who works for the faith-based legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom International, said it was surprising to find herself detained, when she is usually fighting for ADF clients whose speech has been silenced by local authorities. "I don't think we were quite prepared to expect this level of hostility here in Brussels, but hopefully it exposes some things that need to be exposed about the need to protect freedom of expression in Europe," she told Fox News Digital. Vice President JD Vance recently sounded the alarm about free speech being under threat in Europe. In a speech in Munich in February, he raised the case of a British army veteran who was arrested and charged for silently praying in an abortion buffer zone to warn that Europe appeared to be retreating from some of its fundamental values it shares with the U.S. and adopting "Soviet-era" censorship. McLatchie Miller said her arrest "really represents the free speech crisis that Europe is facing right now." "Vance pointed this out in his Munich speech just a few months ago, and many people in Europe laughed at him and said that this wasn't true," she continued. "But case after case, time after time, we're seeing this assault on free speech unfold." "As Chris and I were just there sharing a very peaceful message, a very important message, that no child has ever been born in the wrong body, and they do not need drugs and scalpels to fix themselves, they need love and affirmation. It's an opinion that's shared by many people across Europe, and yet the authorities came and shut down that conversation in the streets of this capital city, this heart of the European Union." "If free speech is not accessible here in Europe's alleged home of democracy, then it's not accessible anywhere, and it really does raise an alarm bell," she said. Brussels police did not immediately return a request for comment. Their arrest comes at a time when Elston believes there is a growing movement across the globe of those questioning or criticizing transitioning children. "We're making tremendous progress all across the globe," he said. He cited European countries like Finland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom which now discourage giving puberty blockers to children experiencing gender dysphoria. "The truth is spreading," he added. Elston said he speaks to people on both sides of the aisle who share his concerns about transitioning children, and he believes it was one major issue that swung voters away from the Democratic Party in the 2024 election. "This was the number one issue in the U.S. election that caused swing voters to vote for President Donald Trump," he argued. "It wasn't the economy, it wasn't immigration, it was transgender insanity. And even in these Democrat states, a lot of those voters are sick and tired of this."
Fox News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Free speech advocates praise Trump admin for speaking out on global censorship
A Canadian free speech advocate who was fined by Australian authorities spoke out after the U.S. State Department appeared to come to his defense. "It's phenomenal. The Trump administration has been tremendous on this issue," Chris Elston, popularly known as "Billboard Chris" for his custom of wearing sandwich boards with slogans on them, said. In the Australian case, Elston had been fined $806 for "obstructing public movement" in response to displaying his billboard reading "children cannot consent to puberty blockers." Elston said he was peacefully conversing with members of the public and was issued a police "move on" order before being sent away. That incident was separate from a legal challenge Elston launched in April against the country's eSafety commission after the government had his tweet of a Daily Mail article about a transgender activist seated on an Australian board. "It's such a zealous overuse of authority," Elston said. "We don't elect [officials] to decide what we can say." After he was censored, the case was included in a tweet from a State Department bureau decrying government censorship and their coercion of tech companies into targeting individuals. "Freedom of expression must be protected – online and offline," it tweeted. "Examples of this conduct are troublingly numerous. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened X for hosting political speech; Türkiye fined Meta for refusing to restrict content about protests; and Australia required X to remove a post criticizing an individual for promoting gender ideology." "The United States opposes efforts to undermine freedom of expression." Lois McLatchie Miller of Alliance Defending Freedom International, which has been defending Elston, said the group believes "everybody has the right to live and speak their truth, and Chris is a great example of that." "[W]e stood up with Chris alongside the Human Rights Law Alliance in Australia to defend free speech there, but we also see in my own country in the U.K., where people are having censorship thrust upon them, even being arrested for expressing their views."
