A federal court in Australia has imposed a $465,000 fine on X Corp. for violating online safety requirements related to child exploitation material on its platform.
Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan delivered the penalty Thursday, ordering the Texas-headquartered social media company to pay 650,000 Australian dollars. The judge also mandated X pay an additional AU$100,000 ($71,000) toward eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant’s legal expenses within 45 days.
The decision brings closure to a three-year court dispute where X maintained it wasn’t required to respond to eSafety’s inquiries.
X acknowledged violating Australia’s Online Safety Act by not submitting a complete report addressing questions from eSafety in a transparency notice dated Feb. 22, 2023, according to the agency’s attorney Christopher Tran. The company had until March 29 of that year to submit its responses.
X’s legal representative Perry Herzfeld informed the court that eSafety did not claim the violations persisted beyond May 5, 2023.
“That was a period of change and transition for the company,” Herzfeld said, in a reference to Elon Musk taking over.
The transparency notice was originally sent to Twitter Inc., which became part of X through a merger in March 2023.
Tran noted that both X and eSafety considered the financial penalty suitable.
“It’s appropriate because X Corp. is obviously a large company and a large figure is needed to ensure that a contravention is not treated as a cost of doing business,” Tran said.
Last July, the full Federal Court determined X must comply with eSafety’s transparency requirements. This decision supported an earlier judge’s ruling from October 2024.
Inman Grant, who previously worked at Twitter, emphasized that genuine transparency plays a crucial role in keeping technology companies accountable.
“In early 2023, we asked some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Twitter, to report on steps they were taking to comply with the Australian Basic Online Safety Expectations in relation to the proliferation of child sexual exploitation and abuse materials on their platforms,” Inman Grant said in a statement.
“This is not only a key part of our work as Australia’s 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,” she added.
X has not yet provided a response to requests for comment regarding Thursday’s ruling.
