US Congress threatens eSafety commissioner with contempt charges
Online safety tsar Julie Inman Grant has been accused of harassing American companies over Australia’s under-16 social media ban.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant is being threatened with contempt charges by US Congress if she fails to testify in the next fortnight about online safety laws, as she is accused of harassing American companies following the Albanese government’s world-first under-16 social media ban.
Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote for the second time in months to Inman Grant, a dual national who also has US citizenship, on December 30 and accused her of an attempt “to design and implement a global censorship regime”.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Jordan has claimed that Australia’s Online Safety Act threatens the free speech of American citizens, and called on Inman Grant to testify to his committee about Australia’s laws, including her previous attempts to force social media companies to remove graphic content from their platforms.
Last month, the Trump administration barred five former European officials and online safety activists from entering the US and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the list could be expanded to others judged to be opposing free speech.
Jordan’s letter said the US Supreme Court has recognised that Congress has the power to compel US citizens living abroad to testify, and to be found in contempt of court for failing to comply. Contempt of court can be punished with fines or jail time.
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“Those, such as yourself, who enjoy the advantages associated with such citizenship should be willing to shoulder the responsibilities as well, including co-operating with congressional investigations,” Jordan said.
“In other contexts, courts have routinely found that US citizens living abroad are within the jurisdiction of the US government and can be compelled to provide testimony.”
He also noted she had appeared at an event at Stanford University in September: “Clearly, you are willing and able to return to the United States when it suits you.”
Jordan gave Inman Grant two weeks to reply to his request and accused eSafety of “attempts to mandate global content takedowns, and … to design and implement a global censorship regime.”
He said Inman Grant’s written response to the previous request for testimony, made on November 18, was insufficient.