Julie Inman Grant (born 1968 or 1969) is an American-born[2][3] Australian public servant who is currently serving as the eSafety Commissioner, a role in which she leads Australia's regulator for online safety.
Career
After graduating from university in the early 1990s, Grant was offered a position as a "case agent with the CIA", but declined the offer as it meant "I wouldn't be able to tell my friends and family what I was doing". Grant subsequently started working in the public sector as a policy adviser for United States CongressmanJohn Miller in 1991 and 1992.[2]
From 1995 to 2000, Grant worked as a government affairs manager for Microsoft. In 2000, Grant moved to Australia,[2] and became head of corporate affairs at Microsoft until 2004.[4]
In 2005, Grant became the Asia-Pacific director of internet safety, privacy and security at Microsoft,[5] serving in that capacity until 2009 when she became global director for safety and privacy policy and outreach.[6][4][7]
In 2014, Grant became director of public policy in Australia and south-east Asia at Twitter.[2][4] In 2016, Grant moved to the role of director of government relations in the Asia-Pacific region at Adobe.[6][4]
Role as eSafety Commissioner (2017–present)
In January 2017, Grant was appointed by the Australian government as the national eSafety Commissioner,[8] a position established in July 2015 by the government of former Prime Minister of AustraliaTony Abbott, under the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Act 2015.[9][10] In January 2022, Grant was reappointed in her Commissioner role for a further 5 years.[6]
In April 2024, Grant ordered X and Meta to remove footage of the stabbing of Mar Mari Emmanuel.[11] The order was met with resistance from Elon Musk and prompted a protracted debate about free speech, with Musk refusing to delete the videos although it had blocked the content in Australia.[12][13] A two-day injunction to compel X to hide posts that include the footage of the attack was later extended to 10 May 2024.[14] She dropped the case on 6 June, but stated that she would continue to pursue legal action against X in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She also stated that her role in the federal court case led to her and her family being doxed and harassed online.[15]
As a consequence of the standoff Grant became dubbed an "e-Safety Karen" or "e-Karen".[16]
Personal life
Grant has three children and is married to Nick Grant, who is Australian.[2] She is an Australian citizen.[17]
^Grant, Julie Inman (24 November 2022). "Web 3 Podcast" (Interview). Interviewed by Nick Abrahams. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. I actually brought the concept of Safety by Design to Microsoft over 10 years ago when I was their head of global privacy and safety policy and outreach.