<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A prominent Republican politician has called on Australia's eSafety commissioner to front the </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> Congress for questioning, accusing her of being a "zealot" who is "threatening American free speech".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan wrote to Julie Inman Grant on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), calling her to testify in a committee hearing and giving her two weeks to respond.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jordan highlighted the eSafety commissioner's attempt to force billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform, X, to takedown videos of a Sydney church stabbing and claimed Inman Grant had "colluded with pro-censorship entities in the United States".</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/brisbane-police-crime/e64de6e6-c8e7-4782-ae4e-8fb664dd4f11"><strong><span>Almost 100 crimes leads to bizarre discovery</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"As the Australian eSafety Commissioner, you are the official primarily responsible for enforcing Australia's Online Safety Act (OSA), which imposes obligations on American companies and threatens speech of American citizens," Jordan wrote.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In addition, you have been working with US-based organisations and universities to facilitate and encourage cooperation with foreign censorship regimes, including the OSA.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"As such, we respectfully request your testimony at a transcribed interview to inform the Committee's oversight. </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/esafety-commissioner-julie-inman-grant-called-to-testify-to-us-congress-by-house-judiciary-committee-chairman-jim-jordan/f11939f1-93fc-44f3-981c-df4cc718553d" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"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."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The accusation of collusion was sparked by a "non-public" keynote speech Inman Grant made and roundtable discussion at prestigious US university Stanford in September, and work with Stanford's Social Media Lab on implementing and evaluating social media laws.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US-born Inman Grant began her five-year term in 2022, after spending 17 years at Microsoft following a start in the US Congress and the non-profit sector in Washington, DC.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/hannah-mcguire-killer-lachlan-young-mum-debbie-statement/2781e34e-90ac-4d1a-9fa1-76e504298d6e"><strong><span>Murdered woman's mum reveals what court barred her from saying</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Among other powers, Australia's Online Safety Act allows eSafety to require internet service providers to block access to material showing "abhorrent violent conduct such as terrorist acts".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>From December 10, it will also require a range of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/social-media-ban-australia-full-list-of-sites-banned-everything-to-know-explained/b19e9d0f-9a6d-49bd-b5c4-c6a33f98fd0e" rel="" target="" title="social media companies to ban children under 16"><span>social media companies to ban children under 16</span></a><span> from their platforms.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jordan gave Inman Grant until 10am on December 2 (2am on December 3 AEDT) to respond to the request.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"As a primary enforcer of Australia's OSA and noted zealot for global takedowns, you are uniquely positioned to provide information about the law's free speech implications—both in the US and abroad," Jordan wrote.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-wont-host-cop31/78427091-dc31-400d-a012-8f75a0690cda" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Australia loses out in bid to host crucial $1 billion conference</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This information will inform the Committee's legislative reforms aimed, in part, at ensuring that foreign censors cannot silence protected American speech."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An eSafety spokesperson told </span><em><span>The Sydney Morning Herald</span></em><span> she was considering whether to agree to the request "in the context of eSafety's current priorities".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is important to remember why the eSafety Commissioner was established in 2015 as an independent regulator – to protect Australians, especially children, from a range of online harms including sexual abuse and exploitation, deepfake image-based abuse, extreme violence and terrorist propaganda, cyberbullying and exposure to age-inappropriate material including pornography, self-harm and suicide promotion," the spokesperson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The commissioner is accountable to Australia's Minister for Communications and the Australian Parliament."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The commissioner launched Federal Court proceedings last year against X after clips of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed during a live-streamed sermon on April 15 remained on the platform for Australian users to see.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/esafety-commissioner-threatened-over-x-takedown-notice/48f8b561-cd19-4c7f-9b44-8351286f3945"><span>Removal notices were sent to multiple social media companies</span></a><span>, including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, which complied but X only geoblocked the material from Australian users, leaving the clip viewable by those who used virtual private networks (VPNs).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-drops-federal-court-case-against-x-and-elon-over-stabbing-videos/ac6e2648-1b58-4464-984a-dae75a31529d"><span>The commissioner dropped the case in June last year</span></a><span>, saying her key concern throughout was the ease by which children were able to access the "extremely violent" stabbing video on X. She'd decided dropping the case was "likely to achieve the most positive outcome".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When eSafety directed platforms to remove footage of the shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk, the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska on a train and the beheading of hotel manager Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah in September, it "confirmed geoblocking would be sufficient to comply".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"eSafety recognises the importance of news reporting and public commentary on current events – especially such tragic, disturbing ones as these – and has no role regulating opinion, commentary or political speech," the agency said in an October press release.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"eSafety does, however, have a role in enforcing Australia's Online Safety Act to keep Australian citizens safe from online harm, especially children. That includes preventing accidental, inadvertent or unnecessary exposure to harmful violent online imagery of real killings where that material has been assessed RC.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"eSafety understands many Australians were deeply concerned their children had been served this material direct to their feeds without warning or any protective filters."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span></span></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727"><em><strong><span>Apple App Store</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1"><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>.</span></strong></em></div></div>