Australia’s internet safety regulator has imposed a fine of A$610,500 (approximately $386,000 or £317,360) on Elon Musk’s company, X, for its failure to cooperate with an investigation into anti-child abuse practices.
The action was taken after Mr. Musk posted in November last year, declaring that “removing child exploitation is priority #1.” However, the eSafety Commission criticized the company for its “empty talk” on the issue.
Insiders at X, also known as Twitter, had previously informed the media that they would be unable to protect users from online harassment following significant layoffs at the company.
X has experienced a continuous decline in revenue since Musk’s acquisition of it for $44 billion last year.
Under Australian laws that were enacted in 2021, internet companies can be compelled by regulators to provide information about their online safety practices, or they may face fines.
Failure to pay the fine could lead to legal action against the company. Alphabet’s Google was also issued a warning for noncompliance with a request for information regarding the handling of child abuse content.
However, X’s noncompliance was more severe, as the regulator stated that the company failed to respond to some questions, leaving sections of their response completely blank.
Twitter/X did not answer crucial questions about their response time to reports of child sexual exploitation, their methods for detecting such exploitation in live streams, and the tools and technologies used to identify child sexual exploitation material.
The company confirmed to the regulator that it had cut 80% of its global workforce and had no public policy staff in Australia, compared to the two staff members it had prior to Musk‘s takeover.
Last month, X faced criticism from Australian researchers for disabling a feature that allowed users to report election-related misinformation, which raised concerns, particularly in the lead-up to a significant Australian referendum aimed at granting Indigenous people more rights over the weekend.
Source-BBC
