This Monday, Australia’s online safety regulator imposed a fine of 610,500 Australian dollars (366,657.14 euros) on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, for its lack of cooperation in a research related to practices against child abuse. This comes after Musk stated in November last year that his top priority was eliminating child exploitation.
“Twitter / Australia, Inman Grant, in a statement. Thus, the eSafety Commission criticized the company’s lack of action in this matter, calling its statements “empty talk.”
The fine, which can be appealed in the next 28 days, is under the umbrella of the Australian Online Safety Act that was passed last 2021. This rule requires technology companies to inform the authorities about the measures they are taking. taking to combat the proliferation of child sexual exploitation material.
If companies do not comply with these requests they face fines, as is the case with Musk’s social network. And, according to a second report published by the same Safety Commission, after the technology magnate who owns Tesla acquired the social network in October 2022, the proactive detection of child sexual exploitation material decreased, but recovered in the next year.
Grant warned Google for its failure to adequately respond to questions about its actions to combat the spread of child abuse material, although it was not fined. The commissioner expressed concern about the unsatisfactory responses from both X and Google, suggesting they could be due to concerns about public perception or the inadequacy of their systems.
“Both scenarios are concerning to us and suggest that they are not living up to their responsibilities and the expectations of the Australian community,” Internet Safety Commissioner Grant said. They also highlighted that X’s lack of cooperation was more serious than Google’s, as X did not provide adequate answers to key questions, leaving some sections completely blank.
The social network owned by X Corp. confirmed that since the South African tycoon acquired the company its workforce has been reduced by 80% globally and it has no public policy staff in Australia. This has generated concern and criticism in Australia, especially after X disabled a feature that allowed users to report misinformation in the elections ahead of a key referendum in the country on the recognition of Aboriginal people in the Constitution.