Musk versus Australia
X threatens to sue over eSafety fine for anti-transgender post
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has threatened to sue the Australian government as it faces a fine of up to $800,000 fine over a post making disparaging comments about transgender activist Teddy Cook, declaring it would “protect its user’s right to free speech”.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the post written by Canadian Chris Elston, who is known as “Billboard Chris” and says he has “decided to take a stand against gender ideology”, which he has described as “pseudo-religious movement”.
But the post targeting Mr Cook – who was part of a panel that advised the World Health Organisation on developing guidelines for the health of trans and gender diverse people – was reshared thousands of times. This prompted the Australian eSafety Commissioner to take action, which X said it would challenge.
It follows a separate $610,500 penalty from eSafety last year after it accused X of not responding adequately to a question about how it tackled the proliferation of child sexual abuse.
X has not paid that fine and has sought a judicial review – a move that is now likely to replicate over Elston’s post.
“Earlier this week, X was ordered by the Australian ESafety Commissioner, subject to an approximately $800,000 AUD fine, to remove a user’s post. The post had criticised an individual appointed by the World Health Organisation to serve as an expert on transgender issues,” X Global Government Affairs said.
“X is withholding the post in Australia in compliance with the order but intends to file a legal challenge to the order to protect its user’s right to free speech.”
An eSafety spokesman said it was upholding laws to prevent online harm.
“Tech platforms do not always consistently enforce their own rules or hateful conduct policies, which is why parliament voted to establish the Adult Cyber Abuse Scheme as part of the Online Safety Act 2021, so that eSafety could serve as a safety net for Australian adults facing the most grievous forms of online harassment and abuse,” the spokesman said
It comes as Harry Potter author JK Rowling avoided prosecution under Scotland’s hate crime law. Rowling had mocked 10 high-profile biological men – some of whom were sex offenders – who have adopted a female identity.
The posts were seen by more than 11 million people and retweeted 26,000 times. But police in Scotland said they would take no action against her. This is despite a new Scottish law making it an offence if people are “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.