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X Corp penalized for ignoring child safety request
An Australian federal court has finalized a A$650,000 ($463,000) fine against Elon Musk's X Corp after the company admitted it failed to comply with a regulatory demand for details on combating online child exploitation.
Legal dispute timeline
Australia's eSafety Commissioner first issued a transparency notice to Twitter in February 2023, requesting information on how the platform was addressing child sexual abuse material. One month later, Twitter merged with X Corp. The company argued that the notice no longer applied because Twitter, the original recipient, no longer existed as a separate entity.
Last year, the court rejected that argument and ruled that X Corp remained obligated to respond. On Thursday, the parties reached a settlement, with X Corp conceding wrongdoing and agreeing to the financial penalty.
Penalty details and rationale
Justice Michael Wheelahan increased the original A$610,000 fine to A$650,000 and ordered X Corp to cover A$100,000 of the regulator's legal expenses. The judge stated that a penalty close to the maximum allowable was necessary to serve as a genuine deterrent for a corporation of X Corp's size, rather than merely a routine business cost.
"A penalty near the maximum is appropriate in the case of the respondent, which is a substantial corporation so that it operates as a real deterrent and is not simply a cost of doing business."
Justice Michael Wheelahan
Broader tensions with eSafety
The ruling marks the latest clash between X Corp and Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. Previous disputes include the regulator's push for a world-first ban on social media access for users under 16 and X Corp's refusal to remove footage of a stabbing incident at a Sydney church.
In 2024, Inman Grant revealed to the BBC that she had received death threats and her children were doxxed after Musk publicly labeled her the "censorship commissar" in a post to his 196 million followers.
Regulator's statement
Following the court's decision, Inman Grant emphasized the importance of transparency in holding technology companies accountable. "Meaningful transparency is critical to holding technology companies to account," she said in a statement released Thursday.
Next steps
X Corp must pay the A$750,000 total within 45 days. The case concludes a three-year legal battle initiated by the original transparency notice in early 2023.
