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Big win for Billboard Chris
Free speech in Australia just had a big win.
On Monday, the Administrative Review Tribunal overturned a censorship order issued by the eSafety Commissioner against Canadian activist Christopher Elston – known online as Billboard Chris – ruling that his post on social media platform X was not “cyber-abuse” and should not have been taken down.
Human Rights Law Alliance proudly represented Chris in this case.
HRLA Principal Lawyer John Steenhof stated:
Chris’s case is an important win for freedom of speech in Australia. It is part of a global fight against government censorship.
The case centred around a post from February 2024, in which Chris shared a Daily Mail article criticising the appointment of Sydney transgender activist Teddy Cook to a World Health Organisation advisory panel. Chris used accurate pronouns and referred to Cook as a woman and expressed concerns about activists writing guidelines for gender medicine.
The post was geo-blocked in Australia after a formal removal notice from the eSafety Commissioner. But both Chris and X (formerly Twitter) appealed the decision, and after a five-day hearing earlier this year, the Tribunal found that the post did not meet the legal threshold for cyber-abuse of an Australian adult.
This matters – not just for Billboard Chris, but for every Australian who values the right to speak the truth.
The ruling affirms that public debate – even on contentious issues – must be protected. The Tribunal did find the post to be “offensive”, demonstrating why offense, which is ultimately subjective, is a poor standard for legal prohibitions.
However, the Tribunal crucially found no “malicious intent” and that no ordinary person would conclude that Chris intended to cause “serious harm” with his post.
In other words, offence by itself is not enough to censor opinions.
Billboard Chris welcomed the outcome:
This is a serious issue with real world implications for families across the globe and we need to be able to discuss it. Ultimately, the message I wanted to communicate with this post is that children struggling with gender dysphoria deserve better than ‘guidelines’ written by activists who only want to push them in one direction.
Robust public debate is the cornerstone of a free society and attempts to shut it down through vague and subjective censorship powers wielded by unelected government bureaucrats must be challenged.
Thanks to Billboard Chris, HRLA, and everyone who stood up in this fight – Australians are freer today than they were yesterday.
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