Australian Court Upholds $465,000 Fine on Elon Musk’s X Platform

An Australian federal court upheld on Thursday a fine against Elon Musk’s X for failing to comply with child internet safety regulations, ending a three‑year legal dispute between the tech company and Canberra.

Under Australian law, the eSafety Commissioner can impose fines on firms that do not respond to requests for detailed information on how they protect children online.

In February 2023, eSafety asked the then‑Twitter to explain how it was addressing the spread of child sexual abuse content.

The following month, Twitter was merged into Musk’s newly formed X Corp, which was later fined for providing “incomplete” responses to the commission’s repeated requests.

A federal court ruled in October 2024 that X was required to respond to the notice, and on Thursday the social media giant was ordered to pay a fine of AU$650,000 (US$464,900).

“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,” said federal Justice Michael Wheelahan.

The Australian government has been a leader in global efforts to regulate big tech, including introducing last year’s world‑first laws that ban users under 16 from accessing platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

A number of countries are reportedly considering similar measures, with documents obtained by AFP indicating that Israel, the United Kingdom, Norway and New Zealand met with Canberra officials after expressing an “interest” in the ban.

“Meaningful transparency is critical to holding technology companies to account,” eSafety head Julie Inman Grant said in response to Thursday’s ruling.

“This is not only a key part of our work as Australia’s online safety regulator, it also provides the Australian public with important information about how these companies are tackling the worst‑of‑the‑worst content on their platforms,” she added.

AFP

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