\t <\/p>\n
Elon Musk’s X has been fined for failing to comply with Australian laws. Photo: Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Elon Musk\u2019s social media platform X has been ordered to pay $750,000 after it repeatedly failed to answer questions from Australia\u2019s online safety watchdog details about how it tackles child abuse material on its platform.<\/p>\n
In a decision announced on Thursday, Australia\u2019s eSafety Commissioner penalised X Corp for failing to fully comply with a 2023 transparency notice.<\/p>\n
The notice \u2013 which was also issued to several other major tech companies \u2013 required X to explain how it detected, removed and responded to child abuse material and activity under Australia\u2019s Basic Online Safety Expectations<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the company eventually submitted a report, the eSafety Commissioner found numerous answers were inadequate, incomplete or left blank altogether, prompting legal action<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among the unanswered or insufficient responses were questions about Twitter\u2019s content recommendation systems, how quickly it responded to user reports about abuse material, and measures in place to detect livestreamed abuse material.<\/p>\n Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan on Thursday imposed a $650,000 penalty, saying it was appropriate to apply a sanction \u201cnear the maximum\u201d available under the law.<\/p>\n \u201cThe respondent \u2026 is a substantial corporation,\u201d Justice Wheelahan said.<\/p>\n \u201c[This penalty] operates as a real deterrent and is not simply a cost of doing business.\u201d<\/p>\n X was also ordered to pay $100,000 towards the eSafety Commissioner\u2019s legal costs, bringing the total amount payable to $750,000 within 45 days.<\/p>\n According to Bloomberg<\/a>, X generated some $3.63 billion (US$2.6 billion) of total net revenue in 2024.<\/p>\n Legal battle concludes<\/p>\n The ruling brings to an end a three-year dispute between X and eSafety that was drawn out by a lengthy appeals process.<\/p>\n After eSafety issued its transparency notices across big tech in early 2023, both X and Google were found to have fallen short of their transparency requirements under the Online Safety Act.<\/p>\n Google receive a warning, while X faced court action over more serious alleged breaches between March and May 2023.<\/p>\n X, formerly Twitter, attempted to challenge this by arguing Twitter technically no longer existed after merging into X Corp in March 2023, before the Twitter brand was formally retired later that year.<\/p>\n Justice Wheelahan rejected that argument in October 2024, ruling the merger did not remove the company\u2019s legal obligations under Australian law.<\/p>\n X later appealed the decision, but the ruling was upheld in July 2025.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the company formally admitted it had failed to comply with the notice requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cThe respondent admits that its response to the Commissioner\u2019s notice was not prepared in the manner and form required by the notice,\u201d the Federal Court judgement said.<\/p>\n eSafety celebrates outcome<\/p>\n In a statement following the court outcome, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said \u201cmeaningful transparency\u201d was critical to holding technology companies to account.<\/p>\n The commissioner emphasised the importance of questioning big tech companies about abuse materials on their platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not only a key part of our work as Australia\u2019s 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,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Grant warned X that child abuse material was \u201cparticularly systemic<\/a>\u201d on its platform, and more accessible than any other mainstream service.<\/p>\n The company has been a frequent target of eSafety for its online safety controversies in recent years, including the use of AI chatbot Grok<\/a> to generate sexualised images of women and children online.<\/p>\n