Imagine posting a 53-second political video online - and waking up to find it banned across your entire country, without warning, without notice, and without any chance to appeal.

That’s exactly what happened to Celine Baumgarten, a bisexual Australian activist and member of Gays Against Groomers, after she posted a video critical of gender ideology in primary schools.

The eSafety Commissioner, an unelected government bureaucrat with sweeping powers, issued a secret “removal notice” to Twitter (X), resulting in the video being geoblocked across Australia. Celine was never contacted. She had no idea she was being censored - until X told her days later.

The worst part? The Commissioner attempted to argue that the “notice” was simply an informal request, and not a formal notice under the Online Safety Act, and therefore shouldn’t be able to be reviewed by the Tribunal responsible for supervising powers exercised under the legislation!

With the help of the Free Speech Union of Australia (FSU) Celine fought back against this Orwellian nightmare, and succeeded in a groundbreaking appeal against the notice before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

This case helped to set the national precedent for how far the government can go in silencing dissent - and whether ordinary Australians have any real right to political speech online.