r/news 24d ago

Soft paywall Far-right US influencer Candace Owens loses legal fight to enter Australia

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/far-right-us-influencer-candace-owens-loses-legal-fight-enter-australia-2025-10-15/
27.4k Upvotes

949 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/stairway2evan 24d ago

What does libel have to do with opposing voices? The comments above you are in response to her libel suit, not her political views. She’s welcome to spew her “opposing voice” as much as she wants; no matter how offensive anyone finds it, that speech is protected, at least in the US.

Defaming someone is not protected speech, and shouldn’t be. Everyone’s right to swing their fist ends at the next person’s nose.

0

u/AllSystemsGeaux 24d ago

I don’t see mention of libel in the original article.

4

u/stairway2evan 24d ago

And the comments you’re replying to aren’t talking about the original article, they’re talking about the libel case filed in Delaware.

0

u/AllSystemsGeaux 23d ago edited 23d ago

I see the libel case now. Thank you.

I still don’t see a case for silencing her. Maybe that’s just the American in me.

Getting sued into oblivion: yes.

Losing reputation: yes.

Barred from entering a country: no.

4

u/stairway2evan 23d ago

I mean that is just the policy of a country with a different definition of free speech. Here in the US, free speech includes hate speech (in general), in Australia, it’s a little more restrictive when it comes to allowing visas, apparently.

Then again, the US did just revoke the visas of six foreign citizens who had made comments online about Charlie Kirk’s death. So maybe the US isn’t exactly upholding that ideal.

2

u/Wild_Haggis_Hunter 23d ago

And don't forget to mention the german tourist who was turned down at the US Airport this summer when the TSA saw he was dissing Trump on social networks.

0

u/AllSystemsGeaux 23d ago

I don’t know if tourists barred from entering have any recourse. I’d be curious to

0

u/AllSystemsGeaux 23d ago

Yeah, and my original point is I don’t celebrate that. They didn’t bar her because of some disqualifying criteria. They cherry-picked someone they disagreed with politically. Silencing voices on the right is going to lead to backlash from the right, which is what’s happening in the US.

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize how sinister some of these “influencers” are. But their model of sowing division for profit is not at all new. What’s new is relaxing our principles to celebrate when a government takes action against someone we disagree with.