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It occurs to me that both the language of cancel culture and specific, high-profile instances of it have quickly faded from public debate. By contrast, talk about “misinformation” and “disinformation” is everywhere.

I was heartbroken recently to see Melania Trump repeating the talking points of the Abortion Lobby. I could hardly believe it. She personally lived through the tyranny of Communism, and the Ruling Party in America relies on the very same tyrannical tactics as the Communists.

The new laws would lower the legal threshold for prosecuting people for vilification and would add gender identity, sex, sex characteristics, sexual orientation and disability to the list of protected attributes alongside race and religion, which are already protected.

Alliance Defending Freedom launched an open letter condemning Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ illegal attacks on X. Requesting Brazil’s far-left government repeal its lockout of the social media company, the letter called for the restoration of “the free flow of information.”

First, those in charge of adjudicating what is and is not misinformation are sometimes wrong, resulting in the censorship of true information. Second, there are harms associated with the suppression of true information.

Most of us know there is a draft bill before the Parliament with a verbose title: Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill. Its name alone should tell us something smells. The answer to bad speech is MORE speech, not less.

From our initial analysis, we have significant concerns. While the Misinformation Bill is an improvement on the previous iteration, and provides some protections for religious speech, it still puts the power of censorship in the hands of unaccountable private corporations.

As with bits of most government legislation, the Misinformation Bill is worded in such a way as to sound quite innocuous and safe – even helpful and necessary. But that is so often not the case, and the opposite outcome is what we must fear.

One of the most shameful and alarming events of modern history took place from 2020-2022. Under the guise of saving us from the COVID-19 virus, much of the world went through one of the most shocking periods of statist control and violation of basic human rights.

Labor’s Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 attempts to label opinions and facts, that don’t suit the government’s narratives, as “misinformation”, “disinformation”, or “harmful” on social media.

The problem with the government’s approach is that it goes way beyond truth and lies, but about an arbitrary judgment by faceless bureaucrats of what is or isn’t true or what is or isn’t harmful. 

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland tabled a new version of the bill which she said is intended to “carefully balance the public interest in combatting seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation with the freedom of expression that is so fundamental to our democracy.”

Today is the darkest day for Freedom of Speech in Australian history. The Labor Party has introduced its revised misinformation legislation to Parliament.

Brazil’s Alexandre de Moraes’ overreach has gone nuclear. The far-left judicial El Jefe is freezing Starlink’s finances, preventing the Elon Musk-owned company from doing further business in the country.

After a five-year wait, Dr Jereth Kok finally had a hearing in Melbourne last month. He was represented by the Christian legal group, the Human Rights Law Alliance. They did a terrific job, but the case continues.

Social media gets such a bad rap! It distracts. It shortens attention span. It kills the art of conversation. It breeds isolation and loneliness. It triggers depression because we can never live up to the perfect lives of our friends. How does it do this?

One meme making the rounds at the moment on social media says this about Zuckerberg vs Durov: “Mark Zuckerberg is free because he sells people’s personal information. Pavel Durov is not free because he does not sell people’s personal information.”

From Asia Bibi to the Kausars, Pakistan is a well-documented flashpoint for Christians living under, near, and next to Islam.

Life-long Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr has now ended his presidential bid and has thrown his support to Donald Trump. That should shake up the American election a bit.

Dave Pellowe, founder of the Church and State (CAS) ministry, faces a complaint put before the Queensland Human Rights Commission, accusing him of racism and vilification. Pellowe is being "forced" into a legal battle simply for replacing "Welcome to Country" with Psalm 24:1.