Julie Inman Grant | |
|---|---|
| eSafety Commissioner | |
| In office January 2017–present | |
| Preceded by | Alastair MacGibbon [1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Seattle,Washington,US [2] |
| Citizenship | United States,Australia [explain status] |
| Website | www |
Julie Inman Grant is an American-born[ clarify ] [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.
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 Congressman John 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]
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 Tony 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 Twitter 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 Twitter 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 Twitter 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]
On 30 July 2025,the government announced that it would extend its social media age limit to include YouTube following advice from Grant. [16]
Grant has three children and is married to Nick Grant,who is Australian. [2] She is an Australian citizen. [17] [ non-primary source needed ]
Seattle-born Inman Grant, 51, has worked at the intersection of cyber safety, public policy and technology since her early days in government relations for Microsoft.
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.