Free Speech Victory in Australia for Billboard Chris
Australia tried to censor Canadian campaigner Billboard Chris for using biologically accurate language — now, with support from ADF International, a tribunal has ruled in favour of free speech.
Billboard Chris is a father from Canada who has grown a prominent global profile since 2020 by travelling the world wearing a sandwich board stating basic truths such as: “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”
Active on X (Twitter), he posts viral videos of his conversations. In March 2024, Australian authorities ordered X to take down one of his posts. In it, he shared a link to a news article criticizing the appointment of a gender activist to a World Health Organization’s ‘panel of experts’.
Billboard Chris seeks to protect every child from gender ideology, and he simply stated his convictions. Why was his post censored? Why is a democratic government dictating what people can and cannot say?
Like every one of us, he has the right to peacefully state his beliefs without censorship. Australian authorities have violated his basic human right to free speech by censoring his post. And if it can happen to him, it can happen to any one of us.
It’s easier for those in power to seek to silence dissent than to deal with the root causes of problems plaguing society. Censorship begets more censorship and once the state wields its power to silence speech, there is no logical stopping point for government restrictions on free expression. Everyone loses when speech is restricted.
On March 31st, ADF International, together with the Human Rights Law Alliance in Australia, supported Billboard Chris’s legal defence in a 5-day hearing for his right to free speech. Alongside X, he challenged the Australian authorities’ decision to censor his post.
On July 1st, thanks to your continued support, the Administrative Review Tribunal ruled in favour of Canadian campaigner Chris “Billboard Chris” Elston, striking down a government order that sought to censor his post on X under the country’s Online Safety Act.
This censorship case, coordinated by the ADF International team and the Human Rights Law Alliance raised the alarm over expanding global censorship powers and cross-border restrictions on speech.
The ruling comes amid growing international concern over the Australian government’s expansive censorship powers. In May, the U.S. State Department condemned the eSafety Commissioner’s actions as part of a broader global trend toward coercive state censorship.
Victory Won, But Censorship Threat Remains.
Donate Now to Protect Free Speech
Robert Clarke
Director of Advocacy for ADF International
The Context:
What You Need to Know
The X post read: “This woman (yes, she’s female) is part of a panel of 20 ‘experts’ hired by the @WHO to draft their policy on ‘trans people.’

“People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards”.Billboard Chris told…
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) April 12, 2024