Australian court orders Elon Musk’s X to pay $418,000 fine for non-compliance with child safety regulator

An Australian court has imposed a fine of A$610,500 ($418,000) on Elon Musk’s social media platform, to anti-child protection. -abusive practices. X had contested the fine, arguing that he was not obliged to respond, but the Federal Court of Australia ruled in favor of the regulator.

The case centers on X’s refusal to provide details of its efforts to combat child sexual exploitation material, as requested by the eSafety Commissioner in early 2023. into a new Musk-controlled entity, which was private in 2022, was no longer liable under its original legal obligations.

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

“Had X Corp’s argument been accepted by the Court, it could have set the precedent that the merger of one foreign company with another foreign company could allow it to avoid legal obligations in Australia,” Grant said in a statement statement after the verdict.

In addition to the fine, eSafety has initiated civil proceedings against X for non-compliance. X has not yet commented on the court’s ruling.

This isn’t the first time Musk’s X has clashed with Australian regulators. Earlier this year, X was ordered to remove posts about a violent incident involving an Australian bishop, a request the platform ultimately defied. Musk branded the order as censorship, arguing that no country’s regulator should be allowed to dictate global online content, and ultimately upheld the posts after Australia’s regulator withdrew its case.

Musk said at the time that 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