Brace for the new ‘mega-censor’ who will determine what is correct and true

Perhaps her CV and speaking activities explain why she has got into a major stoush with X, whose CEO she disparages to the Davos crowd.

Elon Musk is the new champion of genuine free speech, and his empire comes under her purview.

It's certainly puzzling as to why the eSafety commissioner is tangling with Twitter.

The commission's own research shows only 3 percent of Australians had a "negative experience" on Twitter compared to the 30 percent who said they had one on Facebook - it was also fewer than email, sms/msm, websites, Instagram, chat apps, and Snapchat. There is certainly cause for concern about online child abuse, but surely this is a role for specialised law enforcement. But in any case, I would think algorithms would be fairly accurate in detecting potential child abuse material.

Governments weaponising censorship

Terrorism is another matter. We've seen in the United States various stalwart citizens being labelled as potential terrorists because of the church they attend, or their position on pornography in schools.

In an increasingly polarised world, even in the longest-established democracies, the political party in power is finding ways to weaponise the bureaucracy and through them extract cooperation from corporates to spy on and persecute their opponents.

A system where government information is defined as true by legislative fiat would seem to lend itself to the abuse of power by ideologically motivated commissioners.

Australia, lacking a free speech guarantee in its Constitution, is in a deteriorating position.

This is a position that in the old days - when "telling it like it is" was thought of as an Australian virtue and "cocking a snook at authority" a national pastime - would now be seen as "un-Australian."

And that's exactly what it is.