Anti-child Abuse Probe: Australian Court Fines X $418,000

An Australian court upheld a ruling on Friday requiring Elon Musk’s X to pay a fine of A$610,500 (approximately $418,000) for not complying with a regulator’s request for information regarding anti-child-abuse measures.

X had contested the fine, but the Federal Court of Australia determined that the company was obligated to respond to a notice from the eSafety Commissioner, an internet safety regulator, which sought details on actions taken to combat child sexual exploitation material on the platform.

Musk took X, then called Twitter, private in 2022. However, the company argued that it was not required to respond to the notice issued in early 2023 because it had been incorporated into a new corporate entity controlled by Musk, thereby eliminating liability.

 “If X Corp’s argument had been accepted by the Court, it could have set a troubling precedent that a merger between two foreign companies could allow them to evade regulatory responsibilities in Australia,” stated eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant after the ruling.

Also Read: Brazil Court Orders X to Pay $5M Before Service Resumption

eSafety has also initiated civil proceedings against X for its non-compliance.

This incident is not the first clash between Musk and the Australian internet safety regulator; earlier this year, the eSafety Commissioner directed X to remove posts depicting a bishop in Australia being stabbed during a sermon.

X challenged this order in court, arguing that a regulator from one country should not dictate what internet users worldwide could view, ultimately keeping the posts online after the Australian regulator dropped its case.

Musk labelled the order as censorship and described it as part of a scheme by the World Economic Forum to impose global eSafety regulations.