Australia did not list George Soros as a 'global terrorist'

Australia has not declared George Soros a "terrorist", contrary to what social media posts shared thousands of times falsely claimed. A spokesperson for Australia's Attorney-General's Department also told AFP that the Hungarian-born American business and philanthropic mogul -- a frequent target of online misinformation -- was not on the country's sanction list. 

"Australia declares George Soros a global terrorist!" a Facebook post published on April 2 read.

The same false claim was shared on Facebook here in Australia. It also spread in the United States on social media platform X  here and here.

Comments from some users on the posts indicated that they believed the claim was true.

"WOW - Awesome," a comment read.

"Why hasn’t America, he’s bought 90% of our government," another comment read.

AFP previously debunked separate false claims that Soros was arrested for interference in the 2020 US election and that he was detained by police in Switzerland in 2019.

The latest online claim about him is also false. Australia has no law or legal framework that lists individuals as "terrorists."

"Division 102 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Criminal Code) enables the Minister for the Australian Federal Police to list organisations as terrorist organisations... Individuals are not able to be listed under this framework," a spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department told AFP on April 3.  

She added that Australia "has no other frameworks to list individuals as terrorists."

There were 29 "terrorist organisations" listed in Australia when the false claim circulated online. Neither Soros' Fund Management company nor his Open Society Foundations were mentioned (archived links here, here and here ).

While it only lists terrorist organisations, Australia's law enables the foreign minister to "designate a person or entity who commits, attempts to commit, participates in or facilitates the commission of, terrorist acts"(archived link).

Such designation would result in the freezing of the assets of the said person or entity. It would also be considered an offence to use, move or sell said assets.

Resolution 1373 of the UN Security Council encourages Australia, as a UN member-state, to counter terrorism by imposing financial sanctions on people engaged in terrorist activities.

AFP checked the Australian government's consolidated list of the people and entities subject to sanctions as of March 29, 2024 and found no mention of Soros (archived link).

A spokesperson from the Attorney-General's Department also confirmed to AFP that Soros was not included in Australia's sanctions list. 

Australia is also encouraged to implement the UN Security Council's sanctions regime which includes "comprehensive economic and trade sanctions" and "arms embargoes, travel bans, and financial or commodity restrictions" (archived links here and here).

As of April 5, 2024, Soros has not been included in the UN's sanctions list (archived link).