Concerns Raised Over Broad Powers of eSafety After Removal of X, Meta Content Overseas

Liberal Senator Alex Antic has raised concerns about the eSafety Commissioner’s power to remove content from overseas social media accounts.

His comments come after the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant sent notices to X and Meta regarding the removal of footage of the killings of Iryna Zarutska, Charlie Kirk, and a Dallas motel manager.

Senator Antic said he could understand the move to keep certain online content away from children, but earmarked concerns with government overreach.

“The problem I have though, is the almost, I guess, ‘quasi-judicial’ nature of the powers that the office has,” Antic told Sky News Australia.

The senator said the commissioner can determine whether something is hateful or abhorrent and then issue an order to take down the content.

“And that is where it lays unless the company or the person … appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Court,” Antic said.

“So it is a very very broad set of powers that are afforded here and I do have concerns about those powers.

“You can’t not be alarmed by the sort of the reach that we are seeing here and the implications for free speech more broadly,” Antic said.

The Free Speech Union of Australia has issued a claim in the Tribunal against the eSafety Commissioner for what they described as the “latest attempt to censor free discussion on the news.”

“In this case, it concerns an attempt to ban anyone viewing the murder of Iryna Zarutska,” the Union said in a post to X. 

eSafety Explains Removal Orders

In a response to The Epoch Times, the eSafety Commissioner revealed it had received multiple complaints about graphic footage showing the violent killings of the three U.S. incidents.

Australia’s classification board had reviewed the content and refused it classification, meaning it cannot be hosted, shared, or distributed in Australia.

“eSafety’s notices applied only to the relevant graphic footage, assessed as [Refused Classification or RC] by the Classification Board—the notice does not refer to opinions or political commentary surrounding the RC footage,” an eSafety spokesperson told the Epoch Times. 

eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant further explained her powers at a Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Estimates hearing.

“Under the Online Safety Act, we have the ability when the public complains to us about what we call ‘class one’ content: terrorist and violent extremist material, as well as child and sexual exploitation material. If we assess it as class one material it is considered illegal in Australia,” Grant said.

Inman Grant said, “I certainly do” when asked if she believed in free speech.