Australian Court Orders Musk's X to Pay $418,000 Fine in Child Abuse Case

Photo: Reuters

On Friday, an Australian court upheld an order requiring Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), to pay a fine of A$610,500 (US$418,000) for failing to comply with a request from a regulator seeking information on the company’s efforts to combat child abuse content.

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X had initially contested the fine, arguing that it was not required to respond to the notice from the eSafety Commissioner, Australia's internet safety regulator. The notice requested details about the steps X had taken to address the presence of child sexual exploitation material on its platform. However, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that X was obligated to cooperate with the eSafety Commissioner's request.

X's defense revolved around its claim that it was no longer liable to respond to the notice because the company had undergone significant corporate restructuring. After Musk took the company private in 2022 and rebranded it from Twitter to X, X argued that its responsibilities under Australian law had changed since it was now part of a new Musk-controlled corporate entity, effectively removing any liability for prior obligations.

However, the court rejected this argument. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant expressed relief at the ruling, emphasizing that if X Corp's position had been accepted, it could have set a dangerous precedent. According to her, it would have allowed foreign companies to potentially avoid regulatory obligations in Australia through mergers or corporate restructuring.

Grant stated, "Had X Corp's argument been accepted by the Court, it could have set the concerning precedent that a foreign company's merger with another foreign company might enable it to avoid regulatory obligations in Australia."

In addition to the fine, the eSafety Commissioner has also initiated civil proceedings against X due to its non-compliance with the request for information.

As of Friday, X had not provided a response to requests for comment regarding the court's ruling.

This case is not the first instance of conflict between Elon Musk’s X and Australia's internet safety regulator. Earlier this year, the eSafety Commissioner had ordered X to remove posts depicting a bishop in Australia being stabbed during a sermon. X challenged the order, asserting that a single country’s regulator should not have the authority to decide what internet users around the world could see. The case was ultimately dropped by the eSafety Commissioner, and the posts remained on X's platform.

Musk criticized the initial order, calling it censorship. He also shared posts that suggested the order, which would have had global implications, was part of a larger conspiracy by the World Economic Forum to impose the eSafety Commissioner's rules on the entire world.