The Australian government has warned Reduxx that they must censor or delete an article identifying a trans-identified male soccer player that plays in a women’s league who has been accused of injuring female players.
"On April 28, Reduxx received a notice from the eSafety Commissioner of Australia advising us to heavily censor or delete an article we had published on April 1," a statement from Reduxx co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Anna Slatz released to Twitter read.
"The article, titled 'Thousands of Complaints Filed After Trans YouTuber Allowed To Play On Women’s Football League, Reportedly Injured Players,' revealed the identity of a transgender male who had been the subject of mass complaint after allegedly injuring female players while competing on a women’s football team in New South Wales."
The statement added that the outlet "correctly identified the player who had been the subject of complaint as trans activist Riley Dennis, and also identified the club Dennis played for as the Inter Lions FC."
"In addition to demanding we remove or censor the article, the eSafety Commissioner advised Twitter that we had broken Australia law. Twitter then informed us the content would be withheld in Australia," the statement continued.
The statement said that Reduxx, after a "comprehensive analysis of the compelling arguments presented by the eSafety Commissioner, including that it was 'offensive' to have called Riley Dennis a 'man,'" has decided to keep the article up, without any alterations made to it.
Reduxx magazine noted that Twitter, in an email informing them of the post being taken down in Australia, did not include the exact law that the outlet had violated in the country. The content remains viewable outside of Australia.
In the complaint alert from the eSafety Commissioner, they stated that under the Online Safety Act of 2021, the commissioner is "responsible for handling complaints about cyber abuse material concerning Australian adults and ensuring the rapid removal of such material from social media services, relevant electronic services, or designated internet services"
The complaint alert stated that "We are escalating this complaint to you on the basis that the material may incite harm towards the targeted individual, Riley Dennis."
The commissioner demanded that all images depicting Dennis, all references to Dennis’ name, a screenshot of the "FSNW League One Womens — 1st Grade" table showing Dennis’ name, a tweet showing Dennis’ name and username, references to Inter Lions FC, and the claims that Dennis injured players be removed from the article.
In reasoning for the changes to the piece, the commissioner stated that the article "clearly identifies Riley and shares her name, photos and football team," alleges that "Riley injured women in a football match and purports Riley as dangerous due to her gender identity," "the article misidentifies Riley as a 'man' which is considered offensive," and "the targeted individual is under significant distress and has indicated that she fears for her safety."
In a statement to The Post Millennial, Reduxx's Anna Slatz said, "When I first got the email from the esafety commissioner, I thought that it was a joke. I had to look up to make sure that this was a real government office because it seems so ridiculous to me that there is a branch of the Australian government dedicated to censoring and scrubbing mean things from the Internet on behalf of crybullies."
"When I realized that it was real, I couldn’t believe it. I then found another email, which had gone to our spam inbox from Twitter’s legal department, telling us that the content was now being withheld in Australia, because it violated Australia’s law. Twitter advised us that they withheld the content because the esafety commissioners office had demanded it.
"I still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that the nation of Australia exerted financial resources and legal effort to censor a news article because a trans activist felt was 'offensive.'
"I’m not censoring the article. I’m not deleting the article. Australia does not have any goddamn jurisdiction over Reduxx. And it is extremely scary that they think they can police speech on an international level," Slatz said.
The eSafety Commission claimed to have investigated the accusations against Dennis of injuring female players "and we have been informed that the injuries were not inflicted by Riley."
According to the commissioner’s website, the eSafety Commissioner’s purpose is to "help safeguard all Australians from online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences."
"We have substantial powers to protect all Australians – adults now as well as children – across most online platforms and forums where people experience abuse or harm."
The commissioner which is focused on online content, does not appear to have investigatory abilities in the sphere of sports to look into the claims of injuries.
The Reduxx article built upon one broken by the Daily Mail, in which they spoke about allegations of a transgender athlete injuring female players, featured photos with the face of the athlete pixelated. Reduxx built on the Daily Mail’s story by searching for the sources of the images, something anyone could easily do online with enough time, and tracked down the poster as Dennis.
In the Daily Mail’s initial story, they reached out to Football Australia, Football NSW, as well as the two teams involved in the match which drew complaints, all of which did not comment on the issue.
"Football NSW is the administrator of their respective leagues and competitions, you'll need to contact them," a Football Australia spokeswoman told the Daily Mail.
