Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t observa; “… the online watchdog “considered this option (abandoning legal action) likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children”. …”
‘Dog whistle’: Regulator accuses Musk
Story by Nathan Schmidt
Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant says she was subjected to death threats after taking up the fight against social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk.
“He issued a dog whistle to 181 million users around the globe which resulted in death threats directly to me and which resulted in doxxing of my family members, including my three children,” Ms Inman Grant told the ABC.
“With great power comes great responsibility and exercising that restraint in terms of targeting a regulator who is here to protect the citizens of Australia is really beyond the pale.
“But it is not surprising. This is his modus operandi. I will not be cowered but those threats.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Inman Grant announced she had dropped the legal fight against X over its refusal to remove videos depicting a stabbing attack against a Sydney bishop.
The eSafety Commission was attempting to force X to remove videos of footage of an alleged terror attack in which Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed during a live-streamed sermon.
…
Ms Grant said the online watchdog “considered this option (abandoning legal action) likely to achieve the most positive outcome for the online safety of all Australians, especially children”.
…
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/elon-musk-s-big-win-over-australia/ar-BB1nDVNT
What a whiner. At least President Biden’s choice for Ministry of Truth czar Nina Jankowicz was entertaining.
Thank you again Elon Musk for standing up to this outrageous attack on global freedom of speech.
And just to show there are no hard feelings Aussie eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, if you ever publish a whacky Mary Poppins disinformation singalong like former US Disinformation Governance Board head Nina Jankowicz, you can be assured WUWT will publish it.
Update (EW): A lot is happening in the global digital censorship space. The United Nations is pushing hard to purge online platforms of narratives they consider disinformation. Australia is arguably the Western leader of the current censorship push, with threats to impose a digital ID on Aussie citizens, and a push to develop a Chinese style firewall around all Australian internet access. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appears to be a major player in the digital censorship push – in 2022 Ardern made a wild speech which apparently attempted to link uncensored climate skepticism to mass shooting atrocities. Ardern currently has two concurrent fellowships at Harvard related to online disinformation, which in my opinion implies significant US academic interest in restricting online freedom.
My point is, it is funny to laugh at the serial frustrations of wannabe online censors, but watching them fail and complain is only funny so long as they keep failing to curtail our freedoms. Even the USA isn’t immune from these attacks on freedom – in my opinion, the significant US academic participation in the online censorship push, as personified by Ardern’s dual Harvard fellowships, is a warning of the scale of the attack.
If online content is captured by vested interests to the extent I believe establishment media has been captured, the age of free speech will be at an end, regardless of constitutional guarantees of free speech. As President Obama said in 2022, “The first amendment does not apply to … facebook and twitter”. A voluntary cartel of internet service providers, engineered by putting the “right” people in charge of all these organisations, would be just as effective at curtailing our freedom as tearing up the First Amendment, without the embarrassment of an obvious violation of the US Constitution.
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Julie Inman Grant is incredibly naive, but that is what you get when your job criteria is based on WOKE.
Ms Grant is a very experienced administrator, her behaviour is far from naive more like ominous.
Yes, she knows full well what she is doing and why. Hanlon’s Razor cannot be applied to these people.
She could always move to Wokeachusetts where she’d easily get a top job. Guaranteed.
Anyone who acts as if she was using dystopian novels as a guide for society deserves to be called out. Note to Inman Grant:trying to copy “Brave New World”, and keeping the drones drugged up might work “better” than overt terror and censorship like “1984” or “If This Goes On”.
Can’t wait for the revolt in 2100.
Isn’t Nehemiah Scudder one of Kamala Harris’ aides?
Excellent, a Heinlein reference!
Elon puts more effort into preserving the US Constitution than our Republican representatives.
These days we need protection FROM children.
School teachers and principals in Australia agree. Children and their parents.
School principals faced with machetes, spears and knives as report reveals soaring classroom violence
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-22/school-principals-face-violence-from-children-parents-students/103615570
Welcome to the matriarchy dominating and taking charge of education. Metoo kept telling boys and men they were toxic and not wanted so being rational they’ve left the field in your capable boss babe hands so enjoy.
I do not exhibit Toxic Masculinity; I just have Testy Cals.
John,
What else can one expect to flow from numerous outlets like TV channels showing 24/7 violence for youngsters to ape?
I have never worked out why the early days os mass communication in leisure time became dominated by guns, murder, violence, conflict themes. What a wonderful educational possibility was missed. Geoff S
Yes, our “Entertainment” Industry teaches hatred and violence. And then we wonder why we get hatred and violence in real life.
“ constitutional guarantees of free speech” < — USA
Almost everyone, but not all, misunderstand the Constitutional aspect. It prohibits Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. Note the word “Congress”. The main idea is freedom of speech and expression is strongly protected from government restrictions.
Yep – that was what I meant by the reference to Obama and the cartel.
Much of the Bill of Rights is applicable to state and local governments pursuant to the ‘Incorporation Doctrine’ assumed under US constitution law.
G’Day Frank,
“…is applicable to state and local governments…”
The US Constitution was set up by the States to limit what the new Federal Government could do, and specify what it couldn’t do. In return, the States expected items of common interest – such as raising an army when necessary – to be handled at the Federal level. I know it might sound bass-ackwards, but that’s how it happened.
The Bill of Rights was not part of the original Constitution, since the first eight ‘Amendments’ relate to the ‘rights’ of individuals, not Federal or State bodies.
The 1st Amendment say Congress shall make no laws restricting free speech. The 10th Amendment says that the powers not delegated by the Constitution belong to the States or the People. Since there is no mention of the power of censorship anywhere in the Constitution and it strictly forbids Congress from censorship, that right is reserved for the States or the People. This means that the federal government cannot coerce or conspire with Facebook, Twitter or other private companies to censor their customers.
Hunter Biden laptop.
OK, they can do it, but not legally.
Your thugs have their own entertainment value. There was that one who said the laws of mathematics are well and good, but in Australia, Australian laws apply. And now this one, who seems to not be able to see the impossibility of every government trying to be the one true world censor.
Didn’t the Australian gov’t confiscate most of it’s citizens fire arms a while ago?.
Didn’t everyone claim that the murder rate dropped so dramatically afterwards that every country should do that?
Death threats in Australia are so yesterday. But maybe they’ll put a brown snake in the mailbox.
We replaced the guns with knives and mushrooms.
Alexy,
Yees, predictably by those who can still reason. Geoff S
The msn.com article omits the essential factors in the dispute. “Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant [] announced she had dropped the legal fight against X over its refusal to remove videos depicting a stabbing attack against a Sydney bishop.”.
(1) She ordered X to remove the video from its world-wide platform. There was no mention in the msn.com article of the world-wide bit.
(2) X did immediately block the content from Australia. There was no mention in the msn.com article that X had in fact complied to the greatest reasonable extent with the Australian order.
I’m tired of the lies. At least in Australia there is a different party to vote for next time (OK it’s not perfect, but it is different). In the UK, neither major party cuts it (the only way out is to vote Reform, vote often).
I’m not holding my breath until the Aussie conservatives, if they win, abolish the eSafety commissioner role. I’m sure there are a number of serving conservative MPs who find it outrageous, but there are also influential Aussie conservative politicians, people like Josh Frydenberg and Ted O’Brien, who seem just as onboard with the green transition as any Labor or Green politician.
What you say is reasonable, but I think there is a shift going on which will see the Libs realise that the greens are losing traction and can safely be opposed. Josh Frydenberg may think he can come back into influence, but I think he won’t get there. We will have to wait and see.
Josh has announced in the last week that he is not returning to the political/electoral scheme in Australia. Geoff S
Thank goodness.
The guy was an embarrassment to the Liberal/Conservative party.
And in further rollover news woke broke Victoria (think Califorlorny) approves some offshore gas-
New gas project aims to shore up supply for homes (msn.com)
This is the State that’s banned anymore gas exploration and banned new gas connections but no doubt is facing the dilemma that there’s no interest in their planned offshore wind farms. Well not without State Treasury aka taxpayers bankrolling/guaranteeing them there aint. Slowly but surely the dreamers are getting whacked around the head.
TIP_TIP
Fox Weather News has a report about the hurricane season.
” A late start doesn’t mean a slow season”
While that is true, there is still no sign of one developing.
They still have to explain away the Hurricane Season of 1780. The Great Hurricane of that year the deadliest in history sank and damaged so many Royal Navy ships their control over the North Atlantic was greatly reduced which had an impact on the British ability to fight in North America.
“With great power comes great responsibility and exercising that restraint in terms of targeting a regulator who is here to protect the citizens of Australia is really beyond the pale.”
This to Elon Musk without any acknowledgement of the great power she assuming in order to tell the rest of us what we are allowed to see, hear and speak.
Of course, she can rationalise the use of her great power because she is only trying to “protect the citizens of Australia”, without asking us if we need such protections.
Perhaps she can sic the new Victorian (an Oz state) parliamentary secretary for men’s behaviour on Elon to pull him into line
“Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan announced Wednesday that state MP Tim Richardson would serve as the inaugural Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behavior Change – the first position of its kind in the country.” – https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/29/australia/australia-mens-behavior-violence-intl-hnk/index.html
Aside – if you are unaware of the Aussie use of ‘sic’ then have a read at https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/qa-sick-vs-sic/
Terry Pratchett put “For the Sake of the Children” as one of the good intentions printed on the road to hell, in one of his stories.
The usual suspects have been engaging in a beatup against men but never let the facts get in the way a damn good emote and Metoo hysteria looking to build their evil empire with their snouts in the taxpayer trough-
Australia’s NEW Boss of ‘MEN’s Behaviour’ is a SHAMEFUL and SEXIST World First says Bettina Arndt (youtube.com)
Is it any wonder young men are walking away from the dating scene and marriage and family with a generation of toxic feminutzis poisoning so many women. Welcome to MGTOW and enjoy your cats in your old age boss babes.
MeToo ladies are entering a Darwinian landscape. Aussie men should find wives elsewhere, such as the Philippines, Eastern Europe or South America. Let evolution do its job.
Ah, Australia. Started out as a prison colony, and now it’s… no, never mind.
The Commissar of ‘Truth’ Inman Grant is an ex-Twitter employee. Perhaps she was sacked by Musk with thousands of other leftists.
Inman Grant is an idiot and as an Australian, she does not speak for me. I did not watch the footage of concern and never would, but the total stupidity of this woman is that we both know I could have found it in numerous other places on the internet. I have wondered if, as she was a former Twitter employee, Inman Grant was running this a personal crusade against Elon Musk because she does not like him politically. Which, if true, would make her unfit for public office.
“Unfit for public office” seems to be a requirement for public office under the current administration, in both the USA and Australia…
.
It matters not, but this proud Australian apologises on behalf of proper Australians for the crass stupidity and immature leadership in this matter. Geoff S
President Obozo can say anything he wants, due to the 1st Amendment. The Supreme Court will disagree with him and they have more sway than him.
“as personified by Ardern’s dual Harvard fellowships,”
Stanford University is at the very center of the censorship push, with its Virality Project (also here) and the Stanford Internet Observatory.
SIO self-exculpatory statement here (pdf)– we’re just keeping the internet safe! Really! For the children!
Stanford provided information about on-line anti-narrative comments in Twitter (now X), Facebook, Instagram, and other providers. Those chosen for removal or hiding were flagged by the Feds, and action was then taken by the providers.
A truly magnanimous gesture. /s
The Australian government censorship legislation is currently up for review.
If you can spare the time and feel the need to, please make a submission to tell them (politely) exactly what you think of their Orwellian censorship:
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/statutory-review-online-safety-act-2021
I used not to be able to stand Elon Musk… I thought he was a conman with Tesla…and that might possibly still be true.
In recent years though, it seems I have turned into a supporter.
I value anybody that protects the rights of the individual and takes some very serious stands in order to do so. Telling Disney where to go with their conditional advertising dollars is but one prime example.
The stand against the Aussie Govt another.
A lot of this just stems from people who haven’t learned to live with others disagreeing with them online/in social media.
The few people who really do make credible threats can already be dealt with under existing laws in most countries. They can be identified, charged, and tried in courts of law where appropriate.
There are too many people with thin skins making false claims about internet victimisation.
Who else here remembers the early days of email when systems returned a reply to senders that the recipient had opened the sender’s email? The outrage of people who thought that they deserved a reply just because you had opened the email they sent? Tossers.
It’s just about humans developing new rules of polite communication appropriate to technological changes.