#I've also kind of condensed everything into Australian though I know some of this sits at the state level so there may be regional variation

[fallowhearth]

this is random but please enlighten me on australian content restrictions? I genuinely don’t know any site that we have control over and I’m confused as to how this works

Caveat that I'm writing this fairly quickly and not citing my sources.

Australia has fairly restrictive rules around expression (though obviously this is relative to an ideological ideal, i.e. there are lots of places with even tighter rules). We don't have the 'right to free expression' as an overruling principle in the same way the US does (all necessary disclaimers). Our laws are fairly puritan in respect to what you can legally depict in fiction and pornography. (Fun fact: the A03 'underage' content filter is partly there because of Australian law.) Flippantly, Australian law thinks words on a page and women with small breasts are the same as real actual children. Australian law also has a dim view toward fun and exciting forms of BDSM (note I've not said extreme or even unpopular) practiced by consenting adults and committed to film. Fairly normal (albeit intended for adults, though not pornography) films and video games, etc, also get banned from distribution in Australia because of the way the ratings scheme works.

The next question I suppose is how much this is enforced? Well, hard to say. The legal system seems a bit sheepish about upholding some bans on content, in the sense that they get banned then quickly overturned, presumably out of embarassment. But if Australia controlled as many online platforms as the US, it might be a different story? On the other hand, maybe there'd be more of a public outcry and there would be enough political will to change the laws.