Falling Foul of the Internet Police

The Australian Internet police are on the job.

No, I am not talking about the Australian Federal Police chasing fraudsters and molesters. Nor am I referring to the clandestine agencies tracking terrorism and money laundering.

Instead we have the Australian E-Safety Commissioner pursuing takedown orders for truth-telling tweets on X.

Here's the message that prompted a compliant that sparked Australia's internet bureaucracy to take action.

The tweet linked to a story on the DailyMail.co.uk website.

(Click on the headline below to read the full story.)

It's a sordid tale of indulgence and not for the prudish.

Of course all sorts of people with personal peccadilloes get appointed to all manner of roles in the global bureaucracy. Sometimes these appointments are even based on merit.

That's not the essential discussion here.

The real problem is the fact we have an eSafety Commissioner who can demand opinions be removed from the Internet because they hurt someone else's feelings.

Here's a letter, sent to X, insisting they take action or risk a massive fine.

In part, the letter states:

“an ordinary reasonable person would conclude that it is likely that the Material is intended to cause serious harm to the Complainant. This is because the Material misgenders the Complainant and reiterates that this point is deliberate, which is likely intended to invalidate and mock the Complainant's gender identity.

The Material also contains a statement that implicitly equates transgender identity with a psychiatric condition. This statement is deliberately degrading and suggests that all transgender people - and in this case the complainant in particular - have something that is ‘wrong' about their psychology owing to their gender identity.”

So telling the truth about someone's biology is now a crime and so is suggesting that a person who claims they are not be in the right body might have a mental health issue.

If an able-bodied person claimed to be disabled (known as a trans-abled person) and wanted their body mutilated by doctors, are we permitted to suggest that's a mental illness?

I'm pretty sure we can and am still waiting for someone to adequately explain the difference in approach between these types of 'trans'.

Perhaps that's a job for the eSafety Commissioner.

"Transgender people should be accepted as they are, but not as the sex they are not.”
Karen Ingala Smith