Australian Court Orders Elon Musk’s X To Pay $418,000 Fine For Noncompliance with Child Safety Regulator

An Australian court has upheld a fine of A$610,500 ($418,000) against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), for failing to comply with a request for information from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, an internet safety regulator regarding anti-child-abuse practices. X had contested the fine, arguing it was not obligated to respond, but the Federal Court of Australia ruled in favor of the regulator.

The case centers around X’s refusal to provide details on its efforts to combat child sexual exploitation material, as requested by the eSafety Commissioner in early 2023. X’s legal team argued that the platform, having been integrated into a new Musk-controlled entity after he took it private in 2022, was no longer liable under the original regulatory obligations.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant expressed relief at the court’s decision, warning that had X’s argument succeeded, it could have set a dangerous precedent for companies to escape regulatory oversight through corporate restructuring.

“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,” Grant said in a statement following the verdict.

In addition to the fine, eSafety has initiated civil proceedings against X for its noncompliance. X has yet to comment on the court’s decision.

This is not the first time Musk’s X has clashed with Australian regulators. Earlier this year, X was ordered to remove posts of a violent incident involving an Australian bishop, a request which the platform ultimately defied. Musk labeled the order as censorship, arguing that no single country’s regulator should dictate global online content and ultimately kept the posts up after the Australian regulator withdrew its case.

Musk said at the time the order was censorship and shared posts describing the order, which would have applied globally, as a plot by the World Economic Forum to impose eSafety rules on the world.

Melissa Enoch

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