Elon Musk’s personal crusade against the “woke mind virus” is a worldwide one and the most recent frontline is to be present in Australia, where his company X is joining in a case against the country’s “e-Safety Commissioner”.
The case concerns a Canadian man, Chris Elston, also referred to as Billboard Chris, who in February 2024 posted negatively on X about Australian trans activist Teddy Cook, who was appointed to the World Health Organisation as an “expert” on trans issues.
Elston’s post also included a link to a Mail Online article titled, “Kinky secrets of a UN trans expert REVEALED.” The article describes Cook as “a female-to-male Australian” who regularly posts online about “all the things from public nudity to bondage parties, trans orgies and even a photograph of a person apparently having sex with a dog”.
Cook took exception to Elston apparently questioning his credentials to work for the WHO, and submitted a grievance to Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner.
The Commissioner demanded that X remove the post, which they initially refused to do. However, following a proper order, X geo-blocked the post, making it unavailable to view in Australia.
Elston, along with Musk’s X, the Australian Human Rights Law Alliance, and ADF International are appealing the choice, saying it breaches Elston’s right to free expression.
The court in Melbourne will hear the case over five days starting on 31 March.
Speaking ahead of the case, Elston said, “No child has ever been born within the flawed body. As a father, I actually have grave concerns in regards to the impact of harmful gender ideology on our youngsters’s wellbeing.
“This reality is being increasingly recognised world wide, with government after government ordering a review into using toxic puberty blockers. This is a serious issue with real world implications for families across the globe and we want to find a way to debate it.”
In an interesting twist, Elston was this week threatened with arrest, fined AU$806, and, in response to ADF International, forcibly moved in Brisbane by police after conducting what it says were consensual conversations with members of the Australian public about trans issues.
Ahead of the court date, Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International, who’s serving as a part of Billboard Chris’s legal team, said the case “represents a litmus test totally free speech in a world seeing increasing keep off against global censorship”.
“We’re used to hearing about governments silencing or punishing residents for his or her ‘flawed’ speech in parts of the world with strict blasphemy laws – but now, from Australia, to Mexico, to across the EU, we see Western governments increasingly take authoritarian steps to shut down views they don’t like, often by branding them as ‘offensive’, ‘hateful’, or ‘misinformation’,” he said.
“In a free society, ideas ought to be challenged with ideas, not state censorship. For years, Chris has been speaking a vital truth to which many in Australia at the moment are waking up – children cannot consent to puberty blockers. “
Supporters of Elston have rallied round him, with nearly 13,000 people signing a petition calling on Australia’s Minister of Communications to “protect free speech in Australia”.
Musk’s opposition to “woke” issues appears to stem from events in his own life. He has said that trans ideology “killed” his son, apparently referring to his oldest child who in 2020 got here out as trans.
