A plan to allow Australia’s online censorship chief to operate fake social media accounts as part of Australia’s controversial Digital Duty of Care regime has sparked global outrage.
The provision would give eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant the power to create “sock puppet identities” – defined in the legislation as a “false or fictitious identities” – and use them to generate material online, including by means of AI, “without limitation”.
The proposed power was highlighted in a thread on X on Sunday by journalist Michael Shellenberger, who called it “creepy”, and warned it would allow the Australian government to “run AI bot networks/sock puppets, apparently to secretly influence and manipulate online debates”.
The censorship industrial complex is going on the offensive. New legislation being field tested in Australia would give the government the power to run AI bot networks/sock puppets, apparently to secretly influence & manipulate online debates. Creepy af. H/t @NAffects @MikeNayna https://t.co/Z9IvdyfxLA pic.twitter.com/qTdHizi82q
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) September 26, 2026
Mr Schellenberger then drew attention to the fact that Ms Inman Grant, an unelected leftist bureaucrat who is paid $536,000/year, has admitted being offered a job at the CIA, and has tried to censor the global internet.
He also referred to a Greens senator’s recent comments that the Digital Duty of Care was needed to stop right-wing political messaging being “amplified”, and wrote: “They’re not even trying to hide that they’re doing this to censor their political enemies.”
US diplomat turned political commentator Mike Benz responded to the revelations by sharing an excerpt from a controversial academic paper written by legal scholar Cass Sunstein, which proposed governments combat extremism via the “cognitive infiltration” of groups.
“If the Australian government moves forward with a law that lets it create sock puppet accounts that can influence online debate among its own voters, it would basically be operationalising the plan proposed years ago by the husband of our last USAID chief,” he wrote.
If the Australian government moves forward with a law that lets it create sock puppet accounts that can influence online debate among its own voters, it would basically be operationalizing the plan proposed years ago by the husband of our last USAID chief. https://t.co/TknbLqW1Th pic.twitter.com/wiVbZc27bK
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) September 27, 2026
Ever since Australia GAVE UP THEIR GUNS, their Government began THE LONG MARCH to TAKE AWAY AUSTRALIAN’S LIBERTIES!
Get your guns back, Aussies!#ReArmAustrailia https://t.co/5MSevNQTHp— Rob Schneider 🇺🇸 (@RobSchneider) September 27, 2026
To the barricades.
I thought it was a gee-up, but the draft legislation actually refers to “sock puppets” and allows eSafety Karen to create these “false or fictitious identities” to generate any type of “material” (propaganda) — “without limitation” — using “artificial… pic.twitter.com/KIeKR8oWf9
— Craig Kelly:🇦🇺Foundation for Economic Education (@craigkellyAFEE) September 27, 2026
Actor and comedian Rob Schneider weighed in by saying Australians were losing their freedoms because of gun control laws.
“Ever since Australia gave up their guns, their government began the long march to take away Australians’ liberties! Get your guns back, Aussies!” he wrote.
Australians also reacted to Mr Shellenberger’s thread with anger, and said the Digital Duty of Care regime needed to be stopped.
“Australians need to rise up. Civil disobedience might even be needed to stop such laws,” wrote former Liberal MP Craig Kelly.
“This cannot be allowed to pass Parliament. If you were ever going to take a stand against a proposed law – this is it.”
“Australia is on a dark path to censorship,” wrote political commentator Kobie Thatcher.
“Aussies must push back on this bill. It starts off with observation, but give them this power and it will eventually expand into surveillance and control.”
Last week the Trump administration responded to the draft legislation by warning the Digital Duty of Care regime will facilitate censorship, encroach on free speech, and unfairly burden American companies.
The Albanese government is planning to introduce the legislation to parliament by the end of the year. One Nation has vowed to oppose the bill, and the Coalition has also indicated it will not support it.
Header image: Ms Inman Grant appearing at the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion (RC).
