Australia’s Senate Orders Release of eSafety Censorship Emails

The Australian Senate has formally ordered the production of all communications between “eSafety” Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), adding to the scrutiny over the Commissioner’s role in transnational efforts to stifle online political speech.

While the contents of the emails had already come to light through a US House Judiciary Committee investigation, the Senate’s move signals a significant shift, one aimed squarely at holding a senior Australian bureaucrat accountable for her coordination with a foreign activist group pushing to censor views, including those of US President Donald Trump.

Senator Alex Antic, who introduced the motion, confirmed its passage on Wednesday afternoon, posting: “The Senate has voted in favour of my order for production of documents relating to communications between the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.”

The emails, already published here by Reclaim The Net, have raised alarm about the extent of Inman Grant’s involvement with GARM while serving in her official taxpayer-funded role.

Correspondence from her eSafety government account in 2022 reveals not only her willingness to engage with GARM, but also her support for its strategies, some of which explicitly targeted political figures and platforms under the justification of “brand safety.”

On November 9, 2022, Inman Grant wrote to GARM Initiative Lead Rob Rakowitz amid the US midterm elections, calling his group’s efforts a “proactive approach” and stating, “I believe GARM has significant collective power in helping to hold the platforms to account.” Their dialogue quickly shifted toward strategies to marginalize Trump’s influence online.

Rakowitz openly declared, “I need to see Trump and denials effectively sidelined,” expressing frustration with the spread of what he considered “contagion.”

In response, Inman Grant expressed no concern over the proposed censorship and instead lamented the state of American society, writing, “America is not the country of promise I grew up in or left 22 years ago.”

Despite these concerns already being aired publicly, the Albanese government has resisted attempts to investigate her role further. Just weeks ago, a motion to launch a full Senate inquiry into her conduct was narrowly defeated. The new production order, however, renews momentum for transparency.

Inman Grant encouraged GARM to keep her office informed of developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover in late 2022, describing the situation as a “total Twitter meltdown.”

In one email, she wrote: “We would be grateful if GARM can keep us updated on how Twitter responds and share any information, so we can take into account in our engagement and regulatory decisions.”

The Senate’s production order compels the release of any remaining undisclosed communications between Inman Grant and GARM. What has already emerged points to a deeper entanglement between bureaucrats and private censorship networks operating across borders.