Australia's eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has rejected assertions from US Republican congressman Jim Jordan that she is a 'zealot for global takedowns', as she faced questions from the Australian parliament about a Guardian investigation into Roblox.
Jordan, chair of the House judiciary committee, had requested Inman Grant be interviewed, claiming her enforcement of Australia's Online Safety Act 'directly threatens American speech'. In a letter, he referenced eSafety's failed attempt to have X remove tweets of footage of a church stabbing in 2024.
Inman Grant told Senate estimates on Tuesday that she was sending a letter to Jordan explaining that the Online Safety Act does not affect American freedom of speech. 'Nothing that we do here with the Online Safety Act affects anything that an American platform will serve to Americans,' she said.
She added that since the church stabbing case, eSafety had accepted geoblocking Australian users from seeing the posts as compliance with Australian law. Inman Grant said she would not make her letter public until Jordan had seen it, noting his letter had been sent to Sky News at the same time as to her.
Independent senator David Pocock questioned Inman Grant about a Guardian Australia investigation into Roblox, asking about the platform's exclusion from the under-16s social media ban. eSafety officials said Roblox's primary purpose is gaming, which is exempt, but platforms must continually assess if they might be covered as services evolve.
Inman Grant said eSafety was assessing if it had the legal ability to set up accounts for its own testing of Roblox features. 'We're doing some of our own testing, and we're using our transparency powers,' she said.
