By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY (Reuters) -A U.S. congressional committee called on Australia's internet regulator to testify about the country's laws governing the internet, calling her a "noted zealot for global takedowns" who "threatens speech of American citizens."
In a letter dated November 18, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, a Republican, accused Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant of colluding with pro-censorship bodies by participating in a Stanford University panel of "foreign officials who have directly targeted American speech and represent a serious threat to the First Amendment."
A number of large internet companies, mostly based in the U.S., have lately protested against a host of Australian online rules, including a social media ban for children under the age of 16.
X owner Elon Musk, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, has called Grant a "censorship commissar" over her efforts to restrict some social media posts in Australia. He has called the youth social media ban - which will be enforced by Grant's office starting on December 10 - a surveillance tool.
"As a primary enforcer of Australia's (Online Safety Act) and noted zealot for global takedowns, you are uniquely positioned to provide information about the law's free speech implications," Jordan wrote to Grant.
"Your expansive interpretation and enforcement of Australia's OSA - including your claim of extraterritorial jurisdiction to censor speech outside of Australia - directly threatens American speech."
Jordan's letter asked Grant to respond by December 2 to schedule an interview.
Representatives for the eSafety Commissioner were not immediately available for comment. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted a spokesperson for Grant as saying the regulator was doing nothing to restrict what U.S. companies showed to American citizens, adding that she was considering the request.
In the letter, Jordan referred to a 2024 legal battle in which the eSafety Commissioner ordered X to take down posts showing footage of a church stabbing in Sydney that police described as terrorism. The regulator ultimately dropped the case.
The letter said Grant gave a speech at Stanford in September where attendees and panelists included "officials from some of the entities with the worst track records of extraterritorial censorship, including the European Union and Brazil."
Jordan said Grant hired the California university to evaluate Australia's social media age restriction, and "these close ties with Stanford are troubling given the university's past efforts to facilitate U.S. government censorship of lawful American speech."
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
