Australian Authorities Made 4,000 Requests to Big Tech to Censor COVID-19 Content

Twitter Files reveal micro-management of COVID-19 dissent

People queue to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at a Bunnings hardware store in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 16, 2021. Dan Peled/Getty Images

The Australian Home Affairs Department—normally responsible for dealing with terrorism and border security—made over 4,000 requests to U.S. tech giants to review COVID-19-related content during the pandemic years.

The revelations come after a Freedom of Information request (pdf) from Senator Alex Antic and highlight the extent to which government authorities attempted to control public discourse around issues like vaccine efficacy, lockdowns, and mask mandates.

Between Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 15, 2022, the Home Affairs Department made 4,213 “COVID-19-related content referrals” to digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter to review content against their own terms of service—the height of the pandemic was from 2020 to 2021.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social networks on a smartphone in an undated file photo. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Home Affairs also made 9,423 “terrorist and violent extremist-related referrals” over the same period.

Yet further information was made unavailable or heavily redacted.

Centre-right Liberal Senator Antic said the fact that the Australian government was working with overseas social media companies to censor the views of citizens “should be of concern to us all.”

“The system used by Home Affairs was created for the purposes of seeking removal of terrorist-related material, however, the ’mission creep' into matters of public health proves that we need to be vigilant at all times with the power given to bureaucracies,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.

Antic called for a full Royal Commission investigation into the handling of the pandemic by all levels of government.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan (R), Liberal Senator Alex Antic (C) and Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick (L) at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Nov. 21, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

“Who is to say that the same powers will not be used to curate and censor matters relating to the [Indigenous] Voice to Parliament or to censor posts challenging climate alarmism?” he added.

“It is also concerning that this seems to be a pattern being adopted in many parts of the Western world (as we saw from the Twitterfiles scandal in the United States).”

The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

Twitter Files Reveal Extent of Discourse Management

Australian journalist Andrew Lowenthal found Twitter had worked closely with the Home Affairs department on censoring dissenting content.

Lowenthal, who is trawling through the Twitter files in collaboration with U.S. journalist Matt Taibbi, discovered 18 emails requesting 222 Twitter posts be removed.

One such email contained a signature from a senior analyst working on Extremism Insights and Communication within the Home Affair’s “Social Cohesion Division,” according to Racket News.

The posts targeted for removal included a meme featuring Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wearing a mask with the words, “This mask is as useless as me.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wears a face mask as he walks in to the daily briefing in Melbourne, Australia on July 19, 2020. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

While another targeted account had only 20 followers and one post was targeted for claiming that then-Health Minister Greg Hunt had used “emotionally manipulative language.”

“With the wind-down of the War on Terror, the intelligence community has switched its attention to Countering Violent Extremism. This, in turn, provided broader cover for the censorship of disfavoured internal groups, like for instance vaccination skeptics or even just anti-lockdown activists,” wrote Lowenthal.

“The [Department of Home Affairs] rarely provided evidence for their counter-claims and where they do, they rely on ‘fact-checking’ organizations like Yahoo! and USA Today, rather than on Australia’s own scientists.”

Big Tech a Control Point for Authorities

The Twitter files were released after the takeover of the social media giant by tech billionaire Elon Musk, revealing the platform had suppressed or removed content on a range of issues including irregularities in the 2020 elections, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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• INFOGRAPHIC: Key Revelations of the ‘Twitter Files’

In August last year, 50 officials in the Biden administration were found to have pressured Big Tech firms to crack down on alleged misinformation, according to released documents.

Similar efforts have been underway in Australia to punish health professionals speaking out against the official narrative.

For example, North Brisbane-based Dr. William Bay was suspended after interrupting a national Australian Medical Association conference in late July 2022 and telling attendees to stop forcing vaccines on people.

Dr William Bay (left) is seen talking to supporters and media outside the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane, Australia, on Nov. 30, 2022. AAP Image/Darren England

In September 2021, anaesthetist Dr. Paul Oosterhuis was suspended after two “anonymous complaints” were lodged regarding his social media activity, where he questioned the efficacy of lockdowns and PCR tests.

While in June 2022, a nursing student successfully overturned a decision by her university lecturer to suspend her after she expressed doubts about the vaccine during a casual conversation at a work placement.

“To question the scientific evidence for the safety of a vaccine, so long as it is done rationally, could hardly, if ever, be regarded as contravening [the nursing Code of Conduct]. Nor would pointing to the possibility of long-term effects or the possibility of adverse effects in some clinical situations,” wrote Justice Guy Parker in his judgement.