Subhead:A powerful U.S. committee has called on controversial eSafety boss Julie Inman Grant explain how Australian online safety laws impact Americans.#
A scathing letter from a senior United States lawmaker has surfaced, accusing Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant of posing a “direct threat” to the free speech rights of Americans and urging her to testify before Congress within a fortnight.
The letter, signed by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, brands U.S.-born Inman Grant a “zealot” and alleges her interpretation of Australia’s Online Safety Act gives her sweeping authority over speech well beyond Australia’s borders. Jordan, a close ally of President Donald Trump, insists her reading of the law means “your claim of extraterritorial jurisdiction to censor speech outside of Australia – directly threatens American speech”.
The head of the foreign government – Stanford effort to censor social media needs to testify before Congress, says Chairman of Judiciary Committee @Jim_Jordan. Julie Inman Grant, a US citizen, is the head of the Orwellian “Global Online Safety Regulators Network” https://t.co/xl65YL5bGY pic.twitter.com/8UifWS15Qr
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) November 18, 2025
Jordan requests the commissioner appear before the committee by December 2 to provide evidence about how Australian rules “threaten” American free expression. He also warns that “global content takedown orders are concerning because they harm the free speech rights of those outside of Australia’s jurisdiction and set the precedent that other governments may do the same”.
A central example cited in the letter is Inman Grant’s court action last year seeking the global deletion of footage showing the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emannuel in a Sydney church. Elon Musk described the move as “global censorship”, while then opposition leader Peter Dutton slammed it as “silly”.
