US government warns Australia to stop censoring free speech
Simon Caldwell• May 6, 2025
The United States government has warned Australia to halt its crackdown on free speech following the election of a left wing government for a second term.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor demanded that the Labour government Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ceased censoring free speech on American social media platforms.
In a statement, it listed examples of totalitarian behaviour by the Albanese government that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump found “concerning”.
It included the decision of the Australian eSafety Commissioner to require Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, to censor Chris Elston, who campaigns against medical authorities giving puberty blockers to children.
Known as “Billboard Chris”, Mr Elston was censored after he posted a criticism of gender ideology, and used biologically accurate pronouns to describe an Australian transgender activist.
The State Department’s statement said the U.S. government was “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 statement said.
“Examples of this conduct are troublingly numerous. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened X for hosting political speech; Turkey 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 @SecRubio [Mark Rubio] said, our diplomacy will continue to place an emphasis on promoting fundamental freedoms.”
Reacting to the news of the intervention, Mr Elston said: “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.
“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?”
Both X and Mr Elston, who was supported by ADF International and the Australian Human Rights Law Alliance, legally challenged the decision in Melbourne last month. The result is expected in the second half of this year.
The Australian eSafety Commissioner defended the decision to censor Mr Elston’s post before a Tribunal in Melbourne by arguing that a post using the biologically accurate pronouns of a transgender activist was “likely …intended to have an effect of causing serious harm” and should therefore be subject to state-enforced censorship, in accordance with Australia’s Online Safety Act.
The post in question, which was subject to a “removal notice” at the hands of the eSafety Commissioner in April 2024, shared a Daily Mail article headlined “Kinky secrets of UN trans expert REVEALED: Australian activist plugs bondage, bestiality, nudism, drugs, and tax-funded sex-change ops – so why is he writing health advice for the world body?”
It included pictures posted on social media by Teddy Cook, a transgender activist, and WHO expert panel appointee.
In February 2024, Mr Elston said on X that “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.”
In his evidence, mr Elston told the Tribunal that while the first sentence of the tweet was a specific comment to the Daily Mail’s story on Cook, his second sentence was intended more broadly.
He said he intended to make a political comment about the ideological bias present among those in positions of power and influence when it comes to writing gender policy around the world.
He told the tribunal: “It’s damaging to teach children they are born in the wrong body … children are beautiful just as they are. No drugs or scalpels needed.”
Freedom of political communication is protected as an implied right under the Australian Constitution.
Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International, said: “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.
“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.”
Last month the U.S. State Department also expressed disappointment over the conviction of a UK Christian woman who held up a sign outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic saying: “Here to talk, if you want.”
It announced that it was “disappointed with the UK court’s conviction of Livia Tossici-Bolt for violating a designated buffer zone at an abortion clinic.”
It said: “Freedom of expression must be protected for all”.
Dr Tossici-Bolt, a 64-year-old retired scientist, was convicted of breaching a 150-meter exclusion or “buffer” zone when she displayed the sign over two consecutive days in March 2023.
District Judge Orla Austin, sitting at Poole Magistrates’ Court, gave her a conditional discharge and ordered her to pay prosecution costs of £20,000 by May 31.
Afterwards, Dr Tossici-Bolt said: “This is a dark day for Great Britain. I was not protesting and did not harass or obstruct anyone. All I did was offer consensual conversation in a public place, as is my basic right, and yet the court found me guilty.
“Freedom of expression is in a state of crisis in the UK. What has happened to this country? The US State Department was right to be concerned by this case as it has serious implications for the entire Western world.
“I remain committed to fighting for free speech, not only for my own sake but for all my fellow citizens.
“If we allow this precedent of censorship to stand, nobody’s right to freely express themselves is secure.”
She added: “My conviction for offering consensual conversation has been very difficult, not only for me personally, but also because I care deeply about preserving freedom of expression in the UK.
“I am encouraged to know that the United States Department of State is following my case closely. I am grateful, and hope this encourages this country to take a close look at what it means to convict someone for nothing more than offering conversation.”
Dr Tossici-Bolt was prosecuted after she refused to pay a fixed penalty notice for holding up the sign.
An earlier prosecution for so-called “thought crime”, involving Catholic war veteran Adam Smith-Connor’s case, prompted U.S. Vice President JD Vance to warn the Munich Security Conference in February that Europe was losing its basic freedoms. Mr Smith-Connor will appeal his conviction in a July hearing.
Photo: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gestures after winning the general election at the Labor Party election night event in Sydney on May 3, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)