The White House has accused Australian eSafety body of “censorship”
The US State Department has taken the unusual step of calling out the Australian government for “censorship”, after an anti-trans activist’s posts on X were geo-blocked for being “offensive”.
Canadian internet personality and anti-trans protester Chris Elston, better known on the internet at “Billboard Chris”, has received support from the White House while he waits for a tribunal judgment after taking the Australian government to court over its demand to have an “offensive” post removed.
Mr Elston 49, was last year ordered by the Australian eSafety Commissioner to take down a post on X attacking a transgender activist who was hired by the World Health Organisation to draft care guidelines for trans and non-binary people.
X initially refused to take the content down but later geo-blocked it in Australia following a formal removal order from the eSafety Commissioner.
The US Department of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor published a statement on social media on Thursday saying it was “deeply concerned” by the decision to remove the post.
“The Department of State is deeply concerned about efforts by governments to coerce American tech companies into targeting individuals for censorship,” the statement said.
“Freedom of expression must be protected – online and offline.
“Examples of this conduct are troublingly numerous. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened X for hosting political speech; Türkiye fined Meta for refusing to restrict content about protests; and Australia required X to remove a post criticizing 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 [US Secretary of State Marco Rubio] said, our diplomacy will continue to place an emphasis on promoting fundamental freedoms.”
The Australian eSafety Commissioner defended the decision to remove the post, arguing that it was “likely … intended to have an effect of causing serious harm” and constituted “cyber abuse”, and should therefore be removed in accordance with Australia’s Online Safety Act.
The eSafety Commissioner issued a “removal notice” to Mr Elston in April last year, after he re-posted 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?”.
In the X post, Mr Elston added the comment: “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.”
The decision from the tribunal is expected to be handed down in the second half of this year.
Mr Elston’s bio on X says he is a “human male who protects his kids from gender ideology. Traveling (sic) the world to stop child transition one conversation at a time”.
Since 2020, Mr Elston has gained a following of more than 500,000 users on X, where he shares videos of him standing with his signs with slogans such as “children cannot consent to puberty blockers” in cities around the world.
The incident comes as foreign policy experts have described the relationship between the Trump administration and the Australian government as terse, following reports the President will not answer calls from the Prime Minister to negotiate “Liberation Day” tariffs.