Australia is condemned as a ‘police state’ after Americans notice unusual detail at Taylor Swift’s sold-out concert in Sydney

Australia has been condemned as a “police state” and an “Orwellian dystopia” after fans noticed a strange sign at Taylor Swift’s concert in Sydney on Sunday night.

In posts shared with

Posters encouraging people to “report anti-social behaviour” are often seen in stadiums at major sporting and music events in Australia.

A clip of Taylor performing on stage with the ad playing in the background sparked outrage on the social media site this weekend.

“Australia is a police state,” wrote one American X user, alongside the original video and a screenshot in which the offensive poster was circulated.

“I saw that, my hair stood on end,” one more responded, while another chimed in: “They gave up their weapons and now they’re paying for it.”

‘Oh Lord! That’s very scary. “I’ve never seen anything scarier if it’s not just a meme,” said another.

‘All the dystopian sci-fi powers plaguing the oppressive Nazi outcome, all in one advertising message. My God, that’s the sign of the end of times,’ they continued.

‘I always wanted to visit Australia, now I’m afraid!’ someone else wrote and one more added: “It’s like we live in an Orwellian dystopia.”

‘Antisocial behavior sounds very vague… Almost anything can be interpreted that way. “You know you live in a police state if the state encourages citizens to snitch on each other about basic things like this,” someone else wrote.

‘They are telling their citizens to snitch on each other. “It reminds me of my old country under communism,” said one more.

Taylor performed the third of her four Sydney concerts at the Accor Stadium on Sunday night, following successful concerts on Friday and Saturday.

Their sold-out shows have attracted 80,000 fans a night, plus A-list guests including Rita Ora, Katy Perry, Rebel Wilson and Toni Colette.