Australian Court Upholds $418,000 Fine on Elon Musk's X for Failing to Cooperate with eSafety Commissioner

The Federal Court of Australia on Friday confirmed a penalty of 610,500 Australian dollars ($418,000) levied on Elon Musk’s X. The fine was originally imposed for the company's refusal to provide the necessary information regarding measures against child exploitation content to the eSafety Commissioner, an Australian internet safety regulatory body.

The company had previously contested the fine but was overruled by the court, which determined that X needed to comply with the notice from the Commissioner. This notice was issued for the purpose of gathering insights about the measures taken to prevent child sexual abuse on the now Musk-owned platform, previously known as Twitter. X had become private under Musk's leadership in 2022.

In defense, the company asserted that it wasn’t required to respond to the notice sent at the dawn of 2023 because it had integrated into a new corporate entity under Musk, hence nullifying any obligations. However, the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, argued that if the court accepted this line of reasoning, it could encourage foreign businesses to evade regulatory responsibilities in Australia through mergers.

The Commissioner, following the court decision, also revealed that eSafety has launched a civil action against X for failure to adhere to the regulations. The company has not yet issued any comment on the ongoing case.

Musk has dealt with the Australian internet safety regulator before, in an earlier incident. The eSafety Commissioner initially ordered X to delete posts depicting a bishop in Australia being attacked during a sermon. X objected to the order claiming that a solitary regulatory body shouldn't determine the global online content viewership, thereby keeping the posts alive after the Commissioner retracted the case. Musk perceived this as censorship and pointed to a global conspiracy by the World Economic Forum to forcefully implement eSafety regulations worldwide.