ACMA has issued EFA’s webhost a Link Deletion Notice because of an article EFA published on their own website containing a link to an anti-abortion webpage declared prohibited content by the media regulator in January this year. 

EFA writes:

‘To be clear, EFA published only a link to a page that is hosted overseas and is on ACMA’s prohibited list. Viewing the potentially R-rated page itself is not in any way illegal, and no system is yet in place to enforce the blocking of such web pages. One may well wonder why a link to a legally viewable page should draw the threat of legal sanction while the content itself remains visible. Because the link was on a web page hosted in Australia, the hosting provider – not EFA ourselves, who have more control over the content – falls under Australian legal jurisdiction and could be so served. What this accomplishes is uncertain.’

EFA has complied with the notice and have removed the link to AbortionTV in this post.

They add:

‘This is a textbook case that demonstrates that there is no sharp dividing line between “political” speech and other content. At the edges of public policy are issues which will inflame passions and lead to images, video and words that are offensive to many people. Trying to stamp these out, especially on the Internet, not only diminishes our democracy but is pointless and paternalistic to boot.

You probably remember that Whirlpool.net.au was also issued with a Link Deletion Notice in March after a forum user linked to the same webpage. Because STOTC is hosted in the United States, I will continue to link to the page in my original post

View a PDF of the Link Deletion Notice here.