The US State Department has included Australia among the countries whose governments are criticized for subjecting US social media platforms to demands to censor users.
In Australia’s case, the demands rest on advancing particular gender-based agendas – specifically, transgender-related policies.
The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor used the example of a Canadian Chris Elston (“Billboard Chris”) who is campaigning against subjecting children to puberty blockers, arguing they are too young to offer any meaningful consent to such life-changing procedures.
“The greatest child abuse scandal in the world right now,” is how Elston describes the situation.
For this kind of stance, Elston got himself in the crosshairs of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner.
When Elston took to X to oppose the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) appointing a transgender activist to the transgender policy advisory board – and, possibly to make matters worse, used “the wrong pronoun” while referring the Australian in question – the government Down Under managed to get X to censor one of his posts last year, in a manner “geo limited” to Australia.
But that was in 2024 – and the current White House is not happy about any of this.
“Censorship undermines democracy, suppresses political opponents, and degrades public safety,” the State Department’s Bureau announced, while naming Elston’s case as an example of “coercion” against US social media.
Elston, understandably, finds this turn of events “tremendous” – from a US government that more or less openly or tacitly espoused similar policies and techniques, to a new one that stands behind his right to free expression.
“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,” Elston said in his reaction to the State Department’s press release.
Elston, X, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, and the Australian Human Rights Law Alliance, have taken the eSafety Commissioner to court, with the result of the legal challenge expected later in 2025.
Others that the State Department chose to name and shame now as “distinguished” international purveyors of censorship is former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton (again in connection with pressure on X), as well as the Turkish authorities (who picked on Meta).
The statement stressed that regardless of whether content may be “objectionable” – that does not justify censorship, which ultimately “undermines democracy, suppresses political opponents, and degrades public safety.”
The State Department emphasized that the US diplomacy “will continue to place an emphasis on promoting fundamental freedoms.”
