Read on Twitter
🧵1/ THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT'S ROLE IN THE CENSORSHIP INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
What we know about Aus Gov's efforts to surveil and censor online Covid-related speech, in partnership with Big Tech platforms...
umbrellanews.com.au/featured/2023/… @umbrellanews_au @SenatorAntic
What we know about Aus Gov's efforts to surveil and censor online Covid-related speech, in partnership with Big Tech platforms...
umbrellanews.com.au/featured/2023/… @umbrellanews_au @SenatorAntic
2/ In the #twitterfiles, journalists document a web of cosy collusion between government agencies, private sector think tanks and academic institutions working together with Big Tech to spy on and censor ordinary citizens.
https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701397109796866
3/ Watching the Twitter Files drops with interest, @SenatorAntic wondered, “is this happening in Australia?” In December 2022, Senator Antic lodged a Freedom of Information request to find out, and last week, his suspicions were confirmed.
4/ The Department of Home Affairs surveilled Australians’ social media use, reporting 4,213 Covid-related social media posts to Big Tech platforms for removal or restriction , documents obtained under @SenatorAntic's FOI request show.
https://twitter.com/dystopian_DU/status/1660613476279283713?s=20
5/ Days later, #twitterfiles Aus Edition was released, providing detail on exactly what posts the DHA sought to censor. @NAffects
https://twitter.com/NAffects/status/1661104541004079107?s=20
6/ Tweets reported by the DHA included information that later turned out to be true, jokes, a meme making fun of Dan Andrews, and tweets from accounts with as few as 20 followers. 
7/ In this friendly arrangement, the Department, which Twitter referred to as "our GOV partner," acted like a social media hall monitor, reporting posts to social media platforms based on what violates their own community guidelines.
8/ Another FOI document release from February of this year shows that the Department of Health also requested content reviews from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with the platforms responding obligingly.
https://twitter.com/real_GGoswami/status/1632647369916555264
9/ “The degree of micromanagement is staggering,” says @SenatorAntic of the Australian Government’s interventions in managing online speech throughout the pandemic. “This looks like the creep of big government extending into censorship of everyday speech.”
10/ @NAffects agrees: The Australian Government appears to have, “freely [mixed] concepts of violent extremism and “social cohesion” with legitimate concerns of citizens regarding government panic, lack of expertise, and overreach.”
11/ @NAffects reports that “little to none” of the flagged content in the Australian Twitter Files came from extremists. Rather, “it was and is from everyday Australians and foreigners who disagreed with government policy.”
12/ The secrecy of these arrangements concerns @SenatorAntic , who questions, “is this the tip of the iceberg? Where does it end?”
The extent of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Australia is unknown - further investigation is necessary.
The extent of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Australia is unknown - further investigation is necessary.
13/ “What I’m troubled by is the interjection of unelected bureaucrats into the realm of freedom of speech and into the realm of publishing, and of government departments generally,” says @SenatorAntic
He is hardly alone in this, in Australia or around the world.
He is hardly alone in this, in Australia or around the world.
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