Latest news with #TeddyCook
News.com.au
02-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Elon musk, Billboard Chris win in court against eSafety takedown notice on Teddy Cook post
Elon Musk's X and Canadian activist Chris Elston have 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 eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant over a controversial social media post on X from February 2024. In the post, Mr Elston slammed the proposed appointment of Mr Cook, a biological female, to a World Health Organisation panel on healthcare delivery. Mr Elston, who goes by the X name Billboard Chris, took aim at WHO's panel of experts hired to draft policy regarding trans people while also misgendering Mr Cook. The post reads: '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.' Ms Grant labelled the remarks 'degrading' and issued a takedown notice to X on March 22, threatening the company with a fine of up to $782,500 for any refusal to remove the post. X complied and the post was blocked, but the company and Mr Elston filed a legal challenge against the notice, and on Tuesday evening, ART deputy president O'Donovan ruled in their favour, setting aside the removal order. '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,' Mr O'Donovan said. 'For example, his statement placed on billboards that he is prepared to wear in public 'children are never born in the wrong body' expresses the same idea about the immutability of biology that he expresses, albeit much more provocatively, in the post. '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.' Mr O'Donovan also said there was no evidence Mr Elston intended for Mr Cook to read or receive the post. 'In the absence of any evidence that Mr Elston intended that Mr Cook would receive and read the post, and in light of the broader explanation as to why Mr Elston made the post, I am satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would not conclude that it is likely that the post was intended to have an effect of causing serious harm to Mr Cook,' the ruling reads. The ruling centred around the Online Safety Act, which offers a reporting scheme for adult cyber abuse. The Act defines adult cyber abuse as material targeting a particular Australian adult that is both intended to cause serious harm and is also menacing, harassing or offensive in all circumstances. If the material meets both of these two criteria, eSafety holds the power to order its removal. The ruling has been heralded in some quarters as a victory for freedom of speech. Victorian Liberal parliamentarian Moira Deeming celebrated the ruling on X, writing, 'Wow! Than you Billboard Chris and Elon Musk.' Alliance Defending Freedom International executive director Paul Coleman called the ruling a 'decisive win' for free speech. '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,' he said. 'This is a victory not just for Billboard Chris but for every Australian – and indeed every citizen who values the fundamental right to free speech.' Mr Cook was formerly ACON's director of LGBTQ+ community health.
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Censorship': United States government slams Australia for ‘coercing' tech companies
The United States has accused Australia of 'coercing' Elon Musk's social media platform, X, into 'censoring' free speech, as part of a broader complaint about foreign countries pressuring the tech giants. At issue is a decision taken by Australia's eSafety Commissioner to require that X remove a post by Chris Elston, a Canadian campaigner against 'gender ideology'. Mr Elston is known online as 'Billboard Chris'. The tweet in question, from February of 2024, took aim at an Australian transgender activist, Teddy Cook, who had been appointed to an advisory panel at the World Health Organisation. Mr Elston misgendered Mr Cook, who identifies as male, and suggested global guidelines for dealing with trans issues were being written by 'people who belong in psychiatric wards'. He later acknowledged it was 'not my nicest tweet ever', but insisted it was accurate. 'These kids are lost and confused and they're being lied to, but there are clearly psychiatric issues, and as per all the scientific evidence, the children who end up in these gender clinics are struggling with various mental health comorbidities,' Mr Elston said. Mr Cook complained to the eSafety Commission, which issued a takedown request for the post, saying it 'deliberately' misgendered him in a way 'likely intended to invalidate and mock the complainant's gender identity'. X and Mr Elston both challenged that decision, prompting a more formal removal order. Mr Elston's tweet is now geoblocked in Australia, but remains visible overseas. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, which is housed in America's State Department, has cited the case as a reason to be 'concerned' about governments 'coercing' tech companies. 'The Department of State is deeply concerned about efforts by governments to coerce American tech companies into targeting individuals for censorship. Freedom of expression must be protected, online and offline,' the bureau said in a statement. 'Examples of this conduct are troublingly numerous. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened X for hosting political speech; Turkiye fined Meta for refusing to restrict content about protests; and Australia required X to remove a post criticising an individual for promoting gender ideology. 'Even when content may be objectionable, censorship undermines democracy, suppresses political opponents, and degrades public safety. 'The United States opposes efforts to undermine freedom of expression. As (American Secretary of State Marco) Rubio said, our diplomacy will continue to place an emphasis on promoting fundamental freedoms.' Here's a very brief summary of the two non-Australian examples. Mr Breton, a Frenchman who was, at the time, commissioner for the internal market of the European Union, was accused of going rogue when he sent a letter to Mr Musk threatening consequences if content on X placed European Union citizens at risk of 'serious harm'. Turkey fined Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, for resisting pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government to restrict content from its political opponents. Meta said the content was 'clearly in the public interest'. 'Government requests to restrict speech online alongside threats to shut down online services are severe and have a chilling effect on people's ability to express themselves,' the company said in a statement at the time. Back to Australia. Last month, the eSafety Commissioner and Mr Elston both testified before the Administrative Review Tribunal in Melbourne. The Commissioner argued the X post was likely 'intended to have an effect of causing serious harm'. Mr Elston was asked why he had chosen to write the post. 'Because the World Health Organisation has global influence,' he said. 'We should have evidence-based care.' Mr Elston is being supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative American legal advocacy group, and Australia's Human Rights Law Alliance, which is associated with the Christian lobby. 'The decision of Australian authorities to prevent Australian citizens from hearing and evaluating information about gender ideology is a patronising affront to the principles of democracy,' said Robert Clarke, ADF International's director of advocacy. 'The confidence of the Australian eSafety commissioner to censor citizens of Canada on an American platform shows the truly global nature of the free speech crisis. 'Speaking up for free speech is critical at this juncture, and we're proud to be backing Billboard Chris as he does just that.' Mr Elston himself has welcomed the US State Department's intervention. 'It's tremendous to have the State Department support what we all know is true: free speech is a fundamental right, critical to a democratic society,' he said. 'If our free speech can't be protected when we speak out against the greatest child abuse scandal in the world right now, when can it be?'
