Latest news with #ChrisElston
Fox News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Elon Musk's X and Billboard Chris celebrate 'decisive victory' against censorship in Australia
Conservative activist and children's safety campaigner "Billboard Chris" took a victory lap Wednesday after successfully suing part of the Australian government for trying to censor his posts critical of government officials that advocate for transgender operations. Following a lawsuit filed by social media platform X and the conservative activist – whose real name is Chris Elston – the Australian government was forced to back down from its demands that X delete Elston's 2024 post criticizing a World Health Organization bureaucrat for what Elston described as their pro-child gender operation views. "I think this was a very large dose of rationality for Australia, which has really gone off the deep end in terms of censorship," Elston told Fox News Digital following an Australian Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) ruling this week that Elston could leave his post on the platform. Elston added that the ruling was "a decisive victory" and declared that "Australians should rejoice because they're free to call a man a man, and a woman a woman." X's official Global Government Affairs account reacted to the verdict, stating, "This is a decisive win for free speech in Australia and around the world. X will continue to fight against coercive state censorship and to defend our users' rights to free speech." Elston shared a Daily Mail story on X in 2024 that exposed the identity and sexual proclivities of Teddy Cook, an Australian transgender male who had just been appointed to a WHO body tasked with drafting "care guidelines for trans and non-binary people." The Daily Mail reported that Cook has a "kinky track record in everything from bestiality to bondage, drugs and nudism." Elston posted the article to X and referred to Cook as a "she," in accordance with Cook's biological sex. In the caption to his original post, Elston wrote, "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." After his posts, Elston revealed that Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant sent the activist and X a notice demanding they remove the posts because it amounted to "cyber abuse" of Cook. The government official then threatened X with a nearly $800,000 fine if the platform did not remove the post, prompting X and Elston's legal challenge. Lois McLatchie Miller, a spokesperson for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International – the legal group who coordinated Elston's case against the ruling along with Australia's Human Rights Law Alliance – explained to Fox News Digital how Grant tried to justify the demand to have Elston's speech removed from social media. According to the legal expert, Grant charged Elston and X with violating Australia's "Online Safety Act," alleging his post engaged in "cyber abuse against an Australian adult." Miller continued, "So they use that terminology to say that Chris's post should have been banned. But of course, that would give rise to or demand that Chris intended or the intention of his tweet was to bully someone to abuse them. And, of course, that was not the case." After a week-long hearing over Elston's case that occurred in March, ART reached a verdict Wednesday siding with the activist. According to ART Deputy President Damien O'Donovan, it was clear that Elston's post was not cyber abuse but a statement of his beliefs. Donovan stated in his ruling, "The post, although phrased offensively, is consistent with views Mr Elston has expressed elsewhere in circumstances where the expression of the view had no malicious intent." "When the evidence is considered as a whole I am not satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would conclude that by making the post Mr Elston intended to cause Mr Cook serious harm," he added. Miller described Donovan's finding as a "really significant point," telling Fox News Digital that Elston's "intention was to keep his conviction to speak in the way that he thought was accurate and true. And to uphold the right of identity of women and children." Elston mentioned he felt his team beat the case on "every single legal point." "I think this sets a fantastic precedent going forward, and it should, at the very least, make Australians feel safe to say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, because we've set a precedent for that," he said. Miller added, "This is a really significant early ruling in favor of free speech, which is going to be helpful for citizens all over the world as they tackle these new laws coming in." In a press release, ADF International executive director Paul Coleman celebrated the verdict. "This is a decisive win for free speech and sets an important precedent in the growing global debate over online censorship. In this case, the Australian government alarmingly censored the peaceful expression of a Canadian citizen on an American-owned platform, evidence of the expansive reach of censorial forces, even beyond national borders. Today, free speech has prevailed." The Australian eSafety Commission pointed Fox News Digital to their statement on ART's verdict, which read, "eSafety welcomes the guidance provided by the Tribunal on the statutory test for adult cyber abuse. We will continue to take seriously the responsibility of remediating online harms and protecting Australians from serious online harms."
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Major win': Billboard Chris secures victory in free speech legal battle
Sky News host Danica De Giorgio discusses the recent 'major win' for free speech in Australia. Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant attempted to silence Canadian Activist Chris Elston. The eSafety Commissioner ordered Mr Elston to take down a social media post on 'X' criticising the WHO for appointing a trans activist onto an expert panel. Chris Elston has won his court case in a major victory for free speech.
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
WATCH LIVE: Canadian activist 'Billboard Chris' speaks to Sky News after win against eSafety Commissioner
Canadian activist Chris Elston, also known as 'Billboard Chris', joins Sky News to discuss his win in court against Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. Elon Musk's X and Mr Elston scored a major win against the eSafety Commission and transgender activist Teddy Cook in a landmark ruling from the Administrative Review Tribunal. The ruling, delivered on Tuesday evening, rescinds a takedown order issued by the eSafety Commissioner over a controversial social media post on X from February 2024. Billboard Chris joins Sky News to discuss the ruling and what it means for free speech in Australia. Watch the interview live on The Kenny Report from 5:25pm with a Streaming Subscription.
News.com.au
02-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Elon musk, Billboard Chris win in court against eSafety takedown notice on Teddy Cook post
Elon Musk's X and Canadian activist Chris Elston have scored a major win against the eSafety Commission and transgender activist Teddy Cook in a landmark ruling from the Administrative Review Tribunal. The ruling, delivered on Tuesday evening, rescinds a takedown order issued by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant over a controversial social media post on X from February 2024. In the post, Mr Elston slammed the proposed appointment of Mr Cook, a biological female, to a World Health Organisation panel on healthcare delivery. Mr Elston, who goes by the X name Billboard Chris, took aim at WHO's panel of experts hired to draft policy regarding trans people while also misgendering Mr Cook. The post reads: '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.' Ms Grant labelled the remarks 'degrading' and issued a takedown notice to X on March 22, threatening the company with a fine of up to $782,500 for any refusal to remove the post. X complied and the post was blocked, but the company and Mr Elston filed a legal challenge against the notice, and on Tuesday evening, ART deputy president O'Donovan ruled in their favour, setting aside the removal order. 'The post, although phrased offensively, is consistent with views Mr Elston has expressed elsewhere in circumstances where the expression of the view had no malicious intent,' Mr O'Donovan said. 'For example, his statement placed on billboards that he is prepared to wear in public 'children are never born in the wrong body' expresses the same idea about the immutability of biology that he expresses, albeit much more provocatively, in the post. 'When the evidence is considered as a whole, I am not satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would conclude that by making the post Mr Elston intended to cause Mr Cook serious harm.' Mr O'Donovan also said there was no evidence Mr Elston intended for Mr Cook to read or receive the post. 'In the absence of any evidence that Mr Elston intended that Mr Cook would receive and read the post, and in light of the broader explanation as to why Mr Elston made the post, I am satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would not conclude that it is likely that the post was intended to have an effect of causing serious harm to Mr Cook,' the ruling reads. The ruling centred around the Online Safety Act, which offers a reporting scheme for adult cyber abuse. The Act defines adult cyber abuse as material targeting a particular Australian adult that is both intended to cause serious harm and is also menacing, harassing or offensive in all circumstances. If the material meets both of these two criteria, eSafety holds the power to order its removal. The ruling has been heralded in some quarters as a victory for freedom of speech. Victorian Liberal parliamentarian Moira Deeming celebrated the ruling on X, writing, 'Wow! Than you Billboard Chris and Elon Musk.' Alliance Defending Freedom International executive director Paul Coleman called the ruling a 'decisive win' for free speech. 'In this case, the Australian government alarmingly censored the peaceful expression of a Canadian citizen on an American-owned platform, evidence of the expansive reach of censorial forces, even beyond national borders,' he said. 'This is a victory not just for Billboard Chris but for every Australian – and indeed every citizen who values the fundamental right to free speech.' Mr Cook was formerly ACON's director of LGBTQ+ community health.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Elon Musk scores HUGE win over Australia's eSafety boss after global row about trans expert plugging bondage, bestiality, drugs, and taxpayer-funded sex-change ops
Elon Musk has won a case against the eSafety Commissioner after it tried to censor an 'offensive post' a Canadian man made about an Australian UN trans expert. Chris Elston, who goes by the name of 'Billboard Chris' on X and lives in Canada, was sent an Orwellian 'removal notice' from the Australian Government's eSafety Commissioner in March 2024. Mr Elston's alleged offence had been to share a Daily Mail story about Teddy Cook, a female-to-male trans Australian activist who landed a job on a World Health Organisation (WHO) expert panel drafting care guidelines for trans and non-binary people. Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, deemed the post to be 'cyber abuse' and ordered X to remove it, prompting both Mr Elston and X to sue the Australian government. On Tuesday night the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled late on Tuesday that the post did not meet the definition of cyber abuse and the eSafety Commissioner should not have ordered its removal. 'The more focussed question is whether I can be satisfied that the necessary intention to cause serious harm to the subject of the post has been established,' deputy president Damien O'Donovan noted. 'Based on the evidence before me, I am not satisfied that it has.' The win was hailed as a victory for free speech by Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, who funded Mr Elston's legal challenge alongside the Human Rights Law Alliance in Australia. 'This is a decisive win for free speech and sets an important precedent in the growing global debate over online censorship,' Mr Coleman said. 'In this case, the Australian government alarmingly censored the peaceful expression of a Canadian citizen on an American-owned platform, evidence of the expansive reach of censorial forces, even beyond national borders. 'Today, free speech has prevailed.'
